


Gololyeditsa

by QueenSabriel



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: (no silent hill experience necessary to enjoy), Alternate Universe - Silent Hill Fusion, Body Horror, Gen, Horror, M/M, some violence/gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-09-22 06:10:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9587249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenSabriel/pseuds/QueenSabriel
Summary: While on a road trip to Moscow the trio finds themselves in an abandoned Soviet mining town, but something they brought with them will not let them leave.





	1. Dead End

The car had stopped.

Yuuri sat up a little straighter in the passenger seat, rubbing the fog of a road-trip-induced nap from his eyes. He looked out the window into the prematurely fading light of a Russian December afternoon and saw that Viktor had pulled them into the parking lot of a small gas station. Fields surrounded them, devoid of crops, washed with snow. Everything was silent. As his mind cleared a little more, Yuuri realized too that the road running in front of the gas station was not, in fact, the truck-laden highway that ran from St. Petersburg to Moscow, the one they had been driving on since before dawn. In fact, there wasn't another car or truck in sight.

"Hey, where are we?" he asked, turning to look at Viktor.

"Okay so here…is the thing," Viktor said slowly, not looking up from his phone. "I'm not sure. I should say, I can see where we are but I am not sure how we got here."

" _What_?!" Yuri's voice chimed in from the back. This exclamation was followed by a _thud_ as he slammed both feet into the back of Viktor's seat before sitting up and leaning forward between Viktor and Yuuri. "How the hell do you get lost driving on the M10—it's a straight line!"

"Yura, shush, you do not even know how to drive," Viktor said. He held his phone so the other two could see the map on the screen. "All right, this is where we were, that is the M10 there. And this—" he pinched his fingers against the screen, zooming out until they could see the pulsing blue dot that showed them significantly farther north than the highway "—is where we are."

Yuuri pushed his glasses up with his thumb and frowned. "You must have taken an exit somewhere."

"I must have," Viktor said, though he still sounded uneasy. "It was snowing heavily earlier, I must not have seen the sign? I do not know."

Yuri scoffed. "You need to have your brain checked, _Dyedushka_."

"Do I have to remind you that I am doing this as a favor for you?" Viktor said, turning to frown at him. "Where we _should_ really be is back at the rink."

"If you really wanted to do me a favor you would've paid to have my things shipped from Grandpa's," Yuri snapped. " _You_ could afford that. And then I wouldn't have to be stuck in a car for ten hours each way with you two geezers. Whatever." He glanced out the window at the gas station's little convenience store, then unbuckled his seatbelt. "I'm going inside, I have to pee."

For a moment after Yuri got out of the car Viktor sat with his elbow on the wheel, hand on his forehead, eyes closed. He sighed. "He's right. I should have just done that. It would have been easier and saved us three days."

"It's okay," Yuuri said softly, reaching over to rub Viktor's shoulder. "This way Yuri gets to see his grandfather and I get to see some more of Russia and you get a break from coaching for a bit."

"Do I?" Viktor said dully. Then he turned and smiled. "You're right. And we'll just get back on the highway, it should only cost us an hour or so. Now let's go inside, we should get more snacks." He started to get out of the car, paused, and leaned over to give Yuuri a quick kiss before stepping out into the frigid afternoon.

***

Inside the little store was nothing unusual; fluorescent lights, tinny music playing on the radio, and a young woman behind the register whose hair was even shorter and more violently red than Mila's. She glanced up from the magazine she had been reading when Viktor walked over. He greeted her in Russian and asked something that was beyond Yuuri's skill level to understand. Yuuri went to join Yuri in the snack aisle.

"This place gives me the fucking creeps," Yuri muttered.

Yuuri blinked and glanced around again in case he had missed something, but all he saw were rows of metal shelves, a single cooler at the back, and a rack of magazines next to the bathroom door. At the front the young woman laughed at something Viktor said. "Why?" Yuuri asked. "It just looks like a store."

"I don’t know, it just does, okay?" Yuri shot him a scowl before picking up a granola bar and turning it over to read the nutrition facts. A second later he grabbed another bar, a couple bags of pretzels, and two bottles of water all of which he took up to the front. Dropping them on the counter he said to Viktor, "I'm going to wait in the car," and left.

Yuuri joined Viktor at the counter as the young woman started ringing up the items. There were more racks of candy here, smoking supplies, and little impulse buy items situated around the register. Viktor was examining a rack of keychains, and he turned to hold one up for Yuuri to see.

"I'm buying this for Yura," he said, grinning. The keyring was a little rubber tiger whose face bore an open-mouthed, surprised expression. When Viktor squeezed it, a bright LED light shone out through its open jaws.

"I don't think that'll make him any less mad at you," Yuuri said, but he grinned, because it did seem like the sort of thing Yuri would appreciate.

The woman finished ringing up their things and while Viktor fished his credit card out of his wallet, she turned to stare out the front window of the store, apparently right at their car. The bored expression was gone from her face, replaced instead by...what? Yuuri didn't think he could say exactly what emotion was playing over her features but he started to feel an odd prickling sensation the back of his neck the longer he watched her.

Viktor cleared his throat. He was holding the credit card out. The woman shook herself and took the card from him without saying anything and swiped it through the reader. Yuuri glanced down and saw that Viktor was twisting his ring around his finger, his hands tense. A second later he let out what sounded to Yuuri like a nervous laugh and asked the young woman something as she handed his card back to him.

The woman gave him a blank look, then said something quietly in response.

Viktor's expression faded a little. He stared at her for a second, then took the plastic bag from the counter, murmured a quiet "thank you" and started towards the door. Yuuri followed, glancing curiously back at the woman as they exited but she had returned to her magazine, bobbing her head a little in time with the music still playing.

"What was that?" Yuuri asked as the door closed behind them and they were once again out in the cold, darkening afternoon. "What did you ask her?"

"I asked if this was the part where she warned us to be safe."

"And what did she say?"

"She said 'what would be the point?'"

***

The world outside the car was bathed in metallic blue twilight. The passing scenery gave the illusion of being lit from below as the thin layer of snow reflected back more light than the darkening sky seemed capable of casting. Yuuri tried to focus instead on the road ahead and the intermittent warm glow of the street lights rather than the dead landscape to either side. The lack of life was unsettling; no birds in the sky, not a single fox or deer darting between the skeletal trees. Yuuri supposed this was normal for such a harsh climate but that didn't mean he liked it any more.

Clumps of trees turned into forests. Even with most of them bare for the winter, this gave the illusion of driving through a tunnel with only a thin strip of sky above. And then, though they hadn't seen any signs of civilization since the few farms near the gas station, Yuuri caught sight of a lone house in the woods, set well back from the road, dark and isolated and as lifeless as the world around it. He turned away from the window, looking into the back seat where Yuri was curled up, listening to music and fiddling with the tiger keyring that Viktor had given him.

The trees continued to press in on either side. The road twisted and turned around them, but not so much that Viktor had to drive particularly slowly, which was just as well because it seemed to be taking longer than Yuuri had thought to find their way back to the highway. Not that he had studied the map too intently or knew a lot about Russian infrastructure…

Yuuri leaned back. He could hear Viktor humming softly under his breath as the road straightened and he was able to pick up speed a little more.

Yuuri closed his eyes.

This wasn't too bad.

They would be back on the highway soon.

Half a second before the car started to slide, Yuuri had the feeling that something wasn't right. His eyes flew open just as the back wheels of the car skidded abruptly, slamming Yuuri into the passenger side door. He instinctively grabbed at the dashboard, and next to him Viktor swore, cutting the wheel as he attempted to gain control of the car.

They really were only spinning for a few seconds, but it felt like forever until the car straightened out again and Viktor was able to put on the breaks and bring them to a gradual stop.

And then they sat there, all three of them silent and breathing heavily.

"What…" Yuuri managed finally.

Viktor turned in his seat to look out the back window at the road behind them, which appeared clear. "It's ah…what do you call it in English? _Yura, eta_ _gololyeditsa_."

"Black ice, you fucking moron," Yuri snarled, leaning forward between the seats to punch Viktor in the arm. "You forget how to speak English _and_ drive in winter? What the hell kind of Russian are you?"

Yuuri turned. "Hey, _hey_ , why don't we just—is everyone okay?"

"I'm pissed off," Yuri said, flopping back in his seat.

"That’s…not what I meant but okay. Vitya?" No response. Yuuri looked at Viktor, who was leaning forward to look out the windshield at something. "Hey, Vitya, are you okay?"

"I am fine," Viktor said without looking at him. "Look."

In the shaky aftermath of sliding on the ice, Yuuri had not really paid attention to where the car had finally come to a stop. It was only now that he noticed the thick trees on either side had given way and they were stopped just past the border of— "A town?" Yuuri said, surprised.

"An abandoned one," Viktor murmured. He lifted one hand to point into the distance where, just barely visible against the darkening sky they could see the skeletal structure of some kind of equipment. "It must have been one of the old soviet era mining towns."

"This is creepy," Yuri said, leaning forward once again.

They all gazed around in silence for a moment, at the concrete apartment buildings, at the slightly more industrial structures further on. The road they were on had to be the main road, though as Yuuri squinted he could see that it turned not far into the town.

A loud click sounded as Viktor unlocked his door.

"What are you doing?!" Yuri demanded, sounding more alarmed than he probably meant to. Yuuri said nothing, but he also turned to give Viktor a worried look.

Viktor gave them a bemused look in return. "What? I need to get out and make sure the car is all right and we did not blow a tire or anything. Is that okay?" He looked at them both for a minute before letting out a soft laugh, shaking his head, and getting out of the car.

The other two were still for just a heartbeat before they followed.

The late afternoon had, unsurprisingly, gotten even colder. Yuuri hugged himself, hunching his shoulders a little and watching his breath billow out before him. While Viktor circled the car checking for damage, Yuuri turned in a slow circle to take in their surroundings. Just to their left rose one of the brutalist apartment complexes, most of its windows shattered and gaping. The yard surrounding it was at least the size of the building's footprint itself and completely barren save for the lone swing set and merry-go-round standing pathetically rusting away in the very center. He looked behind them and saw a sign on the side of the road that presumably had the town's name on it at one point, but now the Cyrillic letters were so faded that Yuuri couldn't begin to even try and sound out what it had been.

Yuri was nearby, holding is cellphone in the air. Yuuri watched him. "Anything?"

"One bar. It comes and goes." Yuri shrugged and put the phone back in his pockets, then wandered over to stand at the edge of the road looking up at the apartment.

Yuuri went back over to Viktor. "How's the car look?"

"It should be fine I think," Viktor said, checking his own phone. "I'll see how it drives, there'll be more gas stations when we get back on the M10 and I could have someone take a look at it if I need to." He put his phone back in his coat pocket and looked at Yuuri, asking softly, "Are _you_ okay, Katsudon?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Yuuri said, smiling. He let out a weak laugh. "A little creeped out by this place, but I don't think that's unusual."

Viktor laughed softly, reaching out to brush his gloved thumb against Yuuri's cheek. "Ahuh, me too. Let's get out of here…Yura?" He looked past Yuuri to where Yuri was still standing. "Yura, come on. Let's go."

Yuuri was still leaning into Viktor's touch a little when he heard Yuri exclaim "What the fuck?!" He turned just in time to see the younger boy charging off across the yard towards the apartment at full tilt.

Viktor looked so surprised by this that it took him a second to shout " _Yura?! Wait! What are you doing?!"_

When Yuri neither responded nor made any sign of stopping, Viktor swore under his breath and took off after him. Yuuri followed close behind Viktor, their feet crunching in the snow. Ahead of them, Yuri was making a beeline for the entrance to the apartment where a rusted door hung mostly off its hinges. When he reached the door he paused for only a second before disappearing inside.

Yuuri had turned to glanced back at the car, and in doing so his gaze passed over the sad little playground that was now maybe fifty feet behind them and a little to their left.

It felt like his heart hit the back of his throat. He came to a dead stop and grabbed the back of Viktor's jacket. " _Vitya_ —what is _that_?!"

"What is wh—" Viktor looked over his shoulder and froze as well, bringing one hand up to touch Yuuri's elbow. His breath sounded ragged, though there was no way this little amount of running would have winded him. "Yuuri…" he whispered.

Whatever was standing next to the swings did not move.

"Why is it staring at us?" Viktor whispered.

"What?" Yuuri could not take his eyes off it, but he had no idea why Viktor would say that.

Somewhere, on the other side of the town, the low moan of a siren began to rise into a pitching wail. The sound echoed off the buildings around them. The light began to fade even faster as the siren rose again, and Yuuri glanced finally away from the swings to look down the road at what seemed to be an advancing fog bank or…or…a few cold flakes swirled their way.

It was snow. Snow so thick it was eating up the rest of the town, and with it came the smell of something burnt, and wet, and unmistakably organic.

Whatever was standing next to the swings did not move, but it looked like it could.

"I think," Viktor said, his fingers digging into Yuuri's arm, "we should maybe get inside."

 


	2. Promise

The foyer of the apartment building was narrow and dim. Beneath Yuri’s feet, years of garbage and dead leaves drifted over the tile floor. He could see hallways extending off to either side farther down, and at the very back a staircase rose up to a tiny landing where one lone window let in grey light the color of a television turned to a dead channel.   

The child was standing on the landing, looking out the window. All Yuri could see of them was the outline of their coat and hood.  

“Hey, kid!” Yuri called, starting towards them. Before he reached the bottom of the stairs however the child turned and took off up the next flight. Cursing under his breath Yuri bounded up the stairs after them, reaching the landing just in time to see the kid turn down the second floor corridor. “Wait!” Yuri shouted. His voice fell flat in the musty atmosphere of the apartment, and the child did not wait.  

Up Yuri went. It was a bit brighter on the second floor; wind blew through a crack in the wall ahead of him, and down either hallway light shone in where apartment doors stood open or missing. He heard footsteps down the hallway to his left and turned to see the child disappearing into an apartment five doors down.   

He jogged after them. Reaching the door, Yuri found himself looking into an empty one room apartment. He stepped inside and turned in a slow circle, and even stuck his head into the claustrophobic bathroom, but there was no sign of the child.  

“What the fuck,” Yuri breathed. He crossed the main room to look out the window into the front yard. The window was intact somehow, triple wide, and gave Yuri a clear view of the playground in the middle of the yard.  

Something was standing next to the swings. It had to be Yuuri or Viktor, it had to—no. As Yuri scanned the yard he saw the two of them standing some ways away, closer to the building, also looking at the figure by the swings.   

Somewhere a siren began to wail. Viktor and Yuuri disappeared from Yuri’s peripheral vision as he once again looked at the thing by the playground. The hair on the back of his neck prickled as he pressed his face to the glass, overcome with the feeling that the thing down there was staring back up at him.  

The siren continued, and the light began to fade.  

Yuri let out a startled gasp when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He stepped back from the window and fumbled for his phone. Viktor's name and picture were on the screen. Yuri sighed and held it to his ear. “What.”  

“Where are you?” Viktor asked.  

“Second floor.”  

“We’re coming up.”  

Yuri returned his phone to his pocket and looked back out the window. In the few seconds he had been looking away it had begun to snow, heavily. Grey flakes swirled past the window, and when he leaned forward, Yuri could barely make out the shape of the swing set and merry go round. He hunched his shoulders and stepped back out into the hall. 

Viktor and Yuuri appeared at the top of the stairs the same time Yuri did. Viktor had his phone out and was using it as a flashlight. If he was worried it wasn't showing on his face, but Yuuri's face was drained of color, his eyes wide.  

"What are you _doing_?" Viktor hissed when he spotted Yuri. "You can't just run off like that." 

Yuri scowled at him. "There's a kid running around in here." 

"Then their parents probably are as well," Viktor said, making a grab for Yuri's arm. "But I do not particularly want to find out. We're going." 

Though he stepped back so Viktor couldn't grab him, Yuri did not argue, and followed the two of them back down into the almost completely dark foyer. The light from Viktor's phone bobbed slightly as he bent to pick something up off the floor—it was a long metal pipe, and he hefted it a little. Both Yuri and Yuuri stared at him. 

Viktor looked back at them. "... _What_?" 

"Hah." Yuri snorted. "I would pay money to see you fight someone with a pipe." 

"The snow has let up a little," Viktor said, ignoring Yuri as he went to peer outside. "It's darker though." 

Yuuri stepped closer to him. "Is the thing still out there?" 

" _Thing_?" Yuri said. "It's probably just some idiot trying to scare us. Don’t worry though, Viktor has a _metal pipe_." 

Viktor turned to look at him. "Yura I know you are scared but can you please stop? You are not making this easier." 

"Scared?" Yuri said, bristling. "I'm not _scared_. Your boyfriend's the scared one, look at him." 

"Yeah," Yuuri said, squinting out into the swirling snow. "Yeah I'm a little scared right now because this place is _scary_." 

Yuri scoffed, but didn't say anything further. They waited for another second before Viktor finally led the way outside. All three of them looked in the direction of the playground which was barely visible through the swirling snow; it was deserted. They started walking a little faster, still giving the swing set a wide berth as they crossed the yard back towards where the car was parked, a hunched shape in the swirling grey around it.  

"Vitya," Yuuri said as they jogged towards it. "Did you leave the..." He made a vague gesture at the car, and it became immediately apparent what he was referring to: the hood of the car was up. 

Viktor slowed. The frown he wore and the way he warily circled closer to the front of the car were enough of an answer in themselves—no, he had not left the hood open. Yuri swallowed, letting Viktor see to that while he went to lean against the side of the car, shivering a little. He held his hand out, palm upwards, letting a few snowflakes land on his fingers. 

Frowning, Yuri lifted his hand to his face. He rubbed his fingers together, the snowflakes melting instantly, the faint pinprick of cold vanishing as they disappeared. But the water left on his fingers didn't feel right, it was too viscous, too greasy, and when Yuri lifted his hand to his nose, his skin smelled like burning.  

He jumped when Viktor and Yuuri loomed next to him. " _Fuck_ ," Yuri hissed, then he got a look at their faces and annoyance was replaced with worry. "What?" 

"The battery is gone," Viktor said. 

Yuri stared at him. "What?" 

"The car battery—" Viktor said slowly "—is gone. Someone took it." 

"What do you mean, ' _someone took it'_?!" Yuri cried.  

Viktor shook his head, running the fingers of his free hand through his hair. "It is gone and there were footprints leading down the road. Someone took it. We have to get it back or we aren't going anywhere." 

"This is fucked up," Yuri said, staring first at Viktor, then at Yuuri, who gave a little nod. "This is _so_ fucked up. I'm going to kick the snot out of whoever is doing all of this shit!" 

For a few seconds none of them said anything. They stood in their loose huddle near the car, listening to the unearthly stillness and silence of the town around them.  

And then, just as Viktor opened his mouth to say something, they all caught a faint sound. Static. White noise. Audio feedback. It grew louder as they listened, and a full three seconds passed before they realized the sound came from their cellphones. Yuri pulled his out and shook it, turned the screen on and off, but the speaker continued to emit that crinkling, crackling, screeching static noise. 

Then Yuri glanced up at Viktor. He wasn't looking at his phone but instead staring past Yuri, down the road. Yuri turned. Someone was walking towards them, barely visible through the snow—they were about Yuri's height but moved...awkwardly, like they were using stilts or high heels for the first time, each step timid and shaky. Their arms were too long as well, hands coming down well past their knees.  

As the thing drew closer, the static from their phones grew louder. As it drew closer too they could hear a faint metallic _chink_ each time the thing took a step. 

"Get behind me," Viktor said. He grabbed the pipe again, holding it in both hands like a bat. Facing the oncoming figure, he shouted over the backdrop of static from their phones “ _Don't come closer!”_  

The thing did not listen. Quite possibly it _couldn't_ listen, because when it was close enough, Yuri saw that where a head should be on a human, this thing merely had a featureless nodule, one that writhed from side to side a little as it walked but gave no indication of understanding. Then Yuri looked down. Its legs were bent backwards, like a dog's, but the flesh ended at the knees where in place of a lower leg, long blades of rusted metal had been jammed into its knee joints. It balanced on the very tips of the blades, which explained the tottering movements and the sound. 

It stopped three feet from them and was still. 

“ _Vitya_ _,_ ” Yuuri whispered. 

Viktor was mostly frozen as well, though his grip tightened on the pipe and he started to raise it a little.  

Somehow the faceless creature screamed. It screamed like a drowning man would scream, panicked and garbled, then it leaned back, balancing on its knuckles like a gorilla and kicked out with its blade feet, which looked sharpened all along the back edge. There was a loud _clang_ as the blades connected with the pipe in Viktor’s hands, and the force of the kick sent both Viktor and the thing stumbling backwards.  

Viktor was the first to recover. He lunged forward, bringing the pipe down right on the thing’s deformed head. The second the pipe connected the head popped like a blister, sending a splatter of globulous black and yellow ooze across the pavement.  

Viktor jumped back. “God,” he moaned softly. “I'm going to be sick.” 

"What the _fuck_ is that?!" Yuri said, stepping closer even as Viktor moved back from the now prone corpse. Yuri's heart was pounding so hard he could feel it in his neck and the back of his head, but he leaned over, reaching out towards one of the creatures' blade feet that was sticking up in the air.  

"Yura, don't," Viktor said weakly, and Yuri listened, pulling his hand back. 

The minute Viktor had smashed the thing's head, the static from their phones stopped, but after a second it picked up again, very faintly, but not so faint that none of them noticed. Viktor cursed, not letting go of the pipe as he looked around.  

Yuuri spotted them first. "Guys, _left_!"  

Both Viktor and Yuri looked to the left. Through the fog of swirling snow they could see dozens of shapes staggering towards them, more of the blade-footed creatures. They did not seem to be able to move very quickly, at least, but they were unmistakably headed their way.  

"Run," Viktor said, though he continued to stare at the oncoming shapes. "Run. _Run!_ "  

Simultaneously the three of them turned and sprinted down the road, further into the town, away from the car, away from the apartment building, away from the blade-foot creatures. The static faded as they ran, giving way to the suffocating silence of a snow storm. Yuri did not pay attention to anything around them as they ran, and he did not slow, even as the cold air started to burn in his throat and lungs.  

The road came up without warning. Yuri wheezed as  the wind was driven out of his lungs by the impact, his chin hitting the pavement, teeth sinking into his lower lip. For one horrifying second he lay there stunned, unable to move or breathe or scream, trapped in a nightmare paralysis.  

"Yura!" Viktor spun around and reached for his arm, trying to haul him up, but the ice Yuri had slipped on was still there and whenever he tried to get his feet underneath him again they slid wildly. Panic-turned-terror did nothing to help as Yuri struggled, imagining that the creatures would be descending on them any second.  

Then Yuuri was on his other side and they finally got Yuri to his feet again, but his legs wouldn't move, the muscles in his thighs burning and cramped. He doubled over, gasping in lungfulls of air while Viktor stood close by. Yuri could taste blood and the skin under his chin stung.  

"I don't see them," Yuuri said. "And our phones aren't doing that...thing." 

Viktor continued to stare back the way they had come. His hands were shaking violently, and he lifted one to his mouth for a moment before crouching down where he stood, head bowed and arms wrapped around his knees. He was silent, but his whole body shook.  

Yuri watched him. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, then gave Viktor a light kick. “Get up!” he said, and even to him his voice sounded more worried than angry. “If I had to get up so do you! _Get up old man, come on!_ ” 

“Vitya,” Yuuri stepped closer, holding his hand out. “Yuri's right, we can't stop here.” 

Slowly Viktor uncurled and took Yuuri’s hand to get to his feet. His hands were no longer shaking, the expression on his face once again calm and resolute. He retrieved the pipe from where he had dropped it in the snow. “Okay,” he said. “Okay. We need to find the car battery, and we need to get the hell out of here. Yura…” he turned to face Yuri. “I will not leave you behind, ever, I promise that—but _please_ do not go running off again, okay?” 

“Yeah,” Yuri said, holding his hands up. “You don't have to tell me twice. And…I am really glad you had that pipe. Sorry for making fun of you, I guess.” 

The snow had almost completely stopped by then, but the very last daylight was fading fast. Worse still was the fact that it was still only afternoon, and the sun wouldn't rise again until late the following morning. For a moment the three of them did not move from where they stood, and instead took in their surroundings with a bewildered contemplation. Against the darkening sky they could faintly make out the shapes of buildings: more apartments, stores, warehouses… 

“Is that a light?” Yuri asked. 

Viktor and Yuuri turned to look where he was pointing further ahead where the road turned to the left. Indeed it was a light, two in fact, one the soft orange-yellow of a porch light and the other a broader pane, a window perhaps.  

“Might as well, huh?” Viktor said. 

Yuri didn't argue, but as they started walking the phrase "moths to a flame" fluttered at the back of his mind. 


	3. Block Mind

True night was falling finally as they made their way towards the light. No one spoke as they walked; the only sound was the crunching of their shoes in the snow. Viktor didn't know if this was better or worse, as the silence behind their footsteps left his ears straining for any other sound, his mind supplying the imagined sounds of the blade-footed _things_ coming up behind them, though every time he glanced back over his shoulder he saw nothing but buildings and shadows.  

The light, they discovered, illuminated the front steps of a single unit in a line of row houses, all the same blank concrete design as the apartment buildings. And sitting on the steps was a young woman, who got slowly to her feet as they approached, dropping the remains of her cigarette and stomping it out under her boot. She was bundled up and had a floral cloth tied around her hair.  

"Oh thank God!" Viktor said, not even bothering to disguise his relief when he saw her.  "I hate to be an imposition but we are _very_ lost and our car is broken down and...you wouldn't have a phone we could use, would you?"  

The woman regarded him with a wary expression and it wasn't until her eyes glanced down that he realized he was still holding the pipe, and it was still slicked with ichor.   

"Oh..ah..." Viktor tossed the pipe into the snow and looked sheepish. "Yes, that looks bad. There was something following us."  

"A fucking monster," Yuri interjected, standing close to Viktor and looking at the woman. "What the hell is this place?"  

The woman glanced at him, but didn't answer his question. Instead she looked back at Viktor. "Come inside.  I'm Svetlana."  

"Viktor," he said, giving her another relieved smile. "This is Yuri and Yuuri."  

"We really appreciate this," Yuuri said as Svetlana opened the door and motioned them inside. "We didn't think anyone else was here."  

"It is no trouble," Svetlana replied, following them in and closing the door.   

They found themselves in a long, narrow hallway. Directly to their right, a staircase led up into darkness, to the left stood an open doorway. At the far end of the hall another door led to a small kitchen. Everything had a cramped, musty feel to it. Svetlana latched a deadbolt on the door and moved to hang up her coat on a row of wooden pegs. She did not look much older than Viktor, but the clothes she wore under the coat were out of date, though the same could also be said of the wallpaper.   

Svetlana started down the hall, waving for them to follow her. The hallway was not wide enough for more than one person, so Viktor let Yuri and Yuuri go ahead as he brought up the rear. He glanced through the open door as they passed it, seeing on the other side a cluttered sitting room lit by a single floor lamp and the glow of a small television in the corner. An old woman sat in a chair facing the tv and she did not look up as the group passed the door.   

Pausing at the door, Viktor looked around the room, his gaze settling on the collection of junk on the mantelpiece; little figurines, bottles, books, rolled up papers, dried flowers, and a photograph he couldn't quite make out but appeared to be a black and white portrait of a man with a thick mustache--  

"Vitya?" Yuuri had stopped a few feet away.  

Viktor gave himself a shake. "I'm coming," he said, turning and reaching out to touch Yuuri's back as he caught up with him.  

In the kitchen Svetlana was checking on a pot on the stove and Yuri had taken a seat at the small wooden table in the middle of the room. The kitchen too felt cramped and cluttered; a battered old radio sat on the counter among rusting cans and unused utensils. Yuuri sat down as well but Viktor remained standing.   

"You passed the telephone," Svetlana said without turning. "It's hanging in the hall."  

"Thank you," Viktor said. He gave Yuuri's shoulder a squeeze and stepped back out into the hall.   

A yellowing plastic phone hung on the wall a foot or two away, and Viktor picked up the handset before dialing Yakov's cell phone, holding the handset between his ear and shoulder.  

A beat of silence, and then a monotone recording of a woman's voice spoke. " _The number you are trying to reach is unavailable at this time. Please hang up and try_ _again...The_ _number you are trying to reach is unavailable at this time, please hang—"_   

Viktor hung up the phone. He frowned at it for a moment, then picked it up and tried Yakov's office number at the rink, though he wasn't sure if Yakov would be there or not.   

Again: " _The number you are trying to reach is_ _unavail_ —"  

Viktor hung up the phone. He took out his cell phone to see if maybe by some chance he had service, but he did not. He frowned; the clock read 3:33, which couldn't be right. And indeed as Viktor watched it, counting first to sixty, and then seventy, and then eighty, the numbers did not change. He slid the phone back into his pocket, telling himself it had to be something to do with it not being on the cell network and unable to update.  

Trudging back into the kitchen, he finally sat down at the table with Yuri and Yuuri.  Leaning back he rubbed the back of his head with one hand and looked over at Svetlana, who still stood stirring the pot on the stove. "I don't suppose there's a mechanic's that might be open still?"  

Svetlana shook her head. She looked back at him. A lock of mousy brown hair had slipped out from under her head scarf and hung over her face. "You can stay here."  

Yuri turned around in his chair to look at her. "Great can you tell us what the hell attacked us now? And why the hell your city is so _weird_?"  

But before Viktor could chastise him for being rude, Svetlana turned, stepping past Yuri to open a cabinet, and as she did she briefly rested her hand on top of his head, murmuring, "No."  

***  

Viktor woke to the claustrophobic darkness of an unfamiliar room, and it took him a moment to remember where he was, in the spare upstairs room of Svetlana's strange little row house. There wasn't a bed, just piles of boxes and some broken chairs, but she had given the three of them piles of blankets and pillows to get comfortable with. He and Yuuri were lying next to one another, and Yuri was across the room curled up in a sort of nest.   

It had to be very late, only faint orange glow came in the window from a security light outside. Viktor rolled over onto his side, feeling for his phone and half covering the screen with his hand as he turned it on.   

'3:33' said the clock.  

Viktor sighed and sat up, rubbing his face. After a minute he took his phone and stood up, careful not to disturb Yuuri as he stepped over to the door and opened it. Once out in the dark hall he listened for a moment, but both Svetlana and the old woman (who Viktor assumed was her grandmother, though Svetlana had not introduced them) had to be asleep, as the entire house was dark and silent.   

He tiptoed down the stairs.   

Svetlana's grandmother was still in her chair in the living room, but the TV was off now and she did in fact appear to be asleep, a knit shawl draped over her. Viktor moved past the open door to the living room and down the hall to where the phone hung. He knew it was late, but he knew also from past experience that Yakov would answer his phone at any hour. Assuming he could get through, that is.  

Viktor tried Yakov's cell phone twice. He even double checked from the contacts on his cell that he was dialing the number correctly, which he was. Both times he got the same recording telling him the number was unavailable.   

In a fit of desperation Viktor remembered that he had Nikolai Plisetsky's number saved and he tried that one, figuring at the very least he could leave a message letting him know where they were...  

" _The number you are trying to reach is unavailable at this time, please hang up and try again._ "  

Viktor closed his eyes and sighed, resting his forehead against the wall.  

_"The number you are trying to reach is unavailable at this time, please—_ _fzhhhhhht_ — _again, the number you are trying to reach is unavailable, don't look behind you._   

Viktor opened his eyes and straightened. He couldn't possibly have heard that right.  

_"The number you are trying to reach is don't look behind you."_   

No longer mechanical, a woman's voice spoke lowly in his ear, "I said _,_ don't look behind you _."_   

Viktor dropped the handset and turned around.  

Behind him was the door to the kitchen. The bare bulb that hung above the table was on, and by it's light Viktor could see a boy of six or seven sitting at the table with his hands in his lap. He was looking down, his jacket tattered, his short blonde hair matted. Slowly, Viktor stepped into the room. He wanted to say something, but his voice was stuck, even as he leaned over with both palms on the table.  

The little boy looked up. His lips were tinged with blue, his cheeks thin, but his eyes were bright green and unmistakeable.   

"Yura?" Viktor whispered.   

"Hey, asshole," said the boy. Yuri. Impossibly Yuri. "She said _don't fucking look behind you_!" From under the table he pulled out the kitchen knife he had been holding in his lap and drove it through Viktor’s left hand into the wood of the table.  

Viktor cried out, paralyzed for a moment as pain lanced up his arm. Knees buckling, all he could do was stare in dazed shock at the blood oozing over his fingers and onto the wood of the table.   

“Next time _don't look_ ,” Yuri hissed.   

***  

Viktor’s agonized shout woke the other two occupants of the room, but before either of them could do anything, Viktor was already sitting upright, holding his left hand out in front of him, expression horrified.  

But there was nothing there. In the murky grey light filling the room Viktor could see that his hand was fine, though it still throbbed painfully. It took him a moment to find his voice, “I…ah. A bad dream, I am sorry.” He turned his hand over again, unable to look away. The pain was fading, but still noticeable.  

“Hey,” Yuri said after a second, and his voice sounded suddenly very small. “Wasn't there…wasn't there _stuff_ in here last night?”  

Viktor finally lowered his hand and looked around the room.  He saw in an instant that Yuri was right; there were no boxes, no chairs, the floor covered in a layer of dust disturbed only where each of them sat, blanketless. Viktor felt numb. He reached behind himself until he found Yuuri’s hand.  

“At least it's morning,” Yuuri said, squeezing Viktor’s hand. “We should go. Come on.”  

They all stood and Yuuri opened the door. Outside in the hall part of the floor had caved in and they stepped carefully around the hole before making their way down the stairs which creaked as though barely supporting them. On the first floor Viktor peeked into the sitting room but saw no old woman, no chair, no television, just dead leaves and debris littering the floor.  

As Viktor stepped back he turned to see Yuri coming out of the kitchen holding something. “This was stuck into the table in there,” he said, holding up a large kitchen knife.   

Viktor held his breath. His hand started to throb again.  

“There’s some nasty sticky shit on the blade but I'm keeping it, okay?” Yuri said.  

“Yura.”  

“We need to be able to defend ourselves if we see anymore of those monsters!" Yuri protested.  "Katsudon can have the next thing we find. Maybe it'll be a gun.”  

Viktor held up his hand—his right hand, as his left was still clenched at his side. “Yuri, you said you saw a child yesterday, didn't you? What did they look like? Was it a boy?”  

“I think it was a boy,” Yuri said, giving him a strange look. “But I didn't see his face. Why?”   

Viktor gazed at him for a moment long before turning to join Yuuri by the front door, which hung partially off its hinges, letting in weak morning light and the occasional cold gust of wind. “Nothing. Be careful with that knife.”  


	4. Fever Chill

As they set out into the cold, dark  morning, pausing only so Viktor could retrieve the pipe he had dropped in the yard the night before, Yuuri tried his best to focus on anything but the panic gnawing at the pit of his stomach. Falling into step with Viktor, he reached for his hand. 

"I do not understand how any of this is real," Viktor murmured. 

"Real or not, we have to get out," Yuuri said, rubbing the back of Viktor's hand with his thumb. "Right? We have to find the car battery." 

Viktor gave a short nod. They were back on the main street and Yuri was walking just ahead of them, his shoulders hunched. He still carried the kitchen knife he had taken from the house in one hand, tip pointed to the ground.  

After a few minutes of walking they found themselves in the center of town. Darkened store fronts lined either side of the street, and every now and then they came across an abandoned car—an _old_ abandoned car—sitting beside the curb. Anything too far in the distance simply disappeared into greyness. 

"The real shame of us not having a cell signal is that we cannot put any of this on Instagram," Viktor said. His voice sounded slightly muffled, like he was speaking in a small padded room instead of an open street. He let out a weak laugh. "Chris and Phichit will be so disappointed." 

For some reason this struck Yuuri as particularly funny, and he let out a choked laugh. "I could always get a video of the next monster to show them later…" 

As they dissolved into hysterical giggles, Yuri stopped and spun around, fixing them both with a disgusted expression. "What the fuck is wrong with you? This isn't funny!" 

"I'm sorry, Yura," Viktor said. He let go of Yuuri's hand so he could cover his mouth and try to stifle his laughter. "We don't think it is, I just can't…"  

Yuuri bent over for a moment, resting his hands on his knees and taking a few deep breaths so he could get control of himself. He stared at his shoes as he did, which got him thinking once again about the creatures that had chased them away from the car. "Hey… _we_ have blade feet," he said as he straightened again. 

Yuri stared at him. " _What_." 

"I mean…not right now, but ice skates. They're blades, on our feet," Yuuri said. He glanced at Viktor, who also looked confused. Sighing, Yuuri shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought of it. It seems weird." 

"All of this is weird," Yuri said. He rounded on Viktor again. "What are we even doing, Viktor? Are we just going to wander around until we randomly find the car battery? Huh?" 

Viktor rubbed the side of his neck, sighing as he looked around. He muttered something to himself that Yuuri didn't quite catch, then, abruptly, started walking towards the nearest abandoned car. Yuuri motioned to Yuri and they followed, catching up as Viktor stopped in front of the mostly rusted-out vehicle. 

He started to reach for the hood to open it, then stopped. Something was stuck under one of the windshield wipers, the way a police officer might leave a parking ticket, but this was a full-sized sheet of paper with something colorful drawn on it.  Viktor leaned over the hood of the car to pick it up. 

Yuuri pressed closer, looking over Viktor's shoulder. He saw a child's crayon drawing of three stick figures, a typical draw-your-family scene with something written across the bottom.  

"Mama, Papa and me," Viktor read. He turned the paper over. It looked like letterhead from a business, with a printed name and address in the upper corner.  

There was more writing in crayon on the back as well, and even Yuuri could read the first word because he had at least learned how to write his own name in Cyrillic. And judging from the way Viktor looked over at Yuri, he could guess what the second name was. 

"Yura," Viktor said quietly, holding the drawing out to him. "Do you recognize this?" 

"What the fuck," Yuri said as he took it, his face paling. "Viktor— _what the fuck_?!" He flipped the paper over. "This was how I wrote my name when I was a little kid! What is this doing here?!" 

Viktor tapped the printed address. "This is a school's address, was this where you went when you were little?" 

"No!" Yuri exclaimed. "It says it's in... Bezmolvinitin, I've never even heard of that city! What the fuck is this, Viktor?!" 

"Yura, I have no idea," Viktor said quietly. "Maybe that is the name of this town." 

"Maybe we should find that address," Yuuri said. 

The other two looked at him. Viktor raised his eyebrows and Yuri curled his lip.  

"None of this makes sense," Yuuri reasoned. "Right? This is more like a nightmare than real life, and when things happen in nightmares they always mean something. Maybe we're supposed to go to that address." 

Viktor tilted his head. "'Supposed to?'" 

"I…never mind," Yuuri looked down, biting his lip. "Just a thought." 

"Here's a thought, let's go with our original plan that actually makes sense and see if there's a battery in this car," Yuri said, casting Yuuri a slightly scathing look as he stepped around him to tug open the hood of the car. Viktor had to help him as the car _was_ very old, but eventually the hood lifted with a screech. 

There _was_ a battery inside, but foam-like corrosion coated most of it. Viktor sighed and hit the side of his fist lightly against the underside of the hood.  

"We could try the other cars," Yuuri said, without much conviction. These cars looked like they had been sitting for twenty years at least, and out in the elements it was unlikely that any of the batteries would work.  

Yuri stepped back from the car, wrapping his arms around himself. He was still clutching the drawing, and for a moment looked very small. "I remember drawing this," he said quietly.  

“Those are your parents?” Yuuri asked. He had only ever heard mention of Yuri’s grandfather, and as curious as he was, he wasn't actually going to pry. Still, Yuri seemed to get where he was going. 

“My dad died, I never knew him. Mom has problems.” Yuri was quiet for a bit, then looked up at Yuuri. "Fine. Let's do your idea. Let's find this school or whatever." 

*** 

The school, when they found it, matched the rest of the town; stark, utilitarian, foreboding, and very empty. The blank windows in neat rows across the front of the tall grey and brown building gave the impression that it was watching them as they stood on the front walk staring up at it, and the three huddled a little closer together. 

“Bezmolvinitin District School,” Viktor said finally, nodding at the metal letters above the main door. “I must confess, I do not _really_ wish to go inside…” Yuri scoffed at that, but said nothing. 

The wind picked up, rattling a nearby chain link fence. Yuuri looked up at the building again and started when he thought he saw a face in one of the windows, though a second later he realized it was just a smudge on the glass. Maybe.   

“This is stupid,” Yuri said. He shifted his hold on the kitchen knife so he could rub his nose with the back of his hand.  

Viktor hefted the pipe and tilted his chin a little, then led the way up the crumbling walk to the front doors. The other two followed closely. The doors were not locked, as it turned out, but they did take a bit of force to get open, screeching against the stone floor as they did.  

“Now what?” Yuri said in a hushed voice, pushing his way between Viktor and Yuuri who had paused just inside the doors. 

The air inside was still and barely warmer than the air outside. An odd amount of light filtered in through the windows considering how grey the day was, but Yuuri figured that in the grand scheme of things that was barely worth noting. Everywhere smelled of wood and paper and mildew. A few framed photographs hung on the walls, slanting, glass cracked. Lockers rusted away or had doors that hung at rakish angles.  

'Now what' sounded like a pretty fair question. 

Without saying anything they began to make their way slowly down the main hall. As they passed open doors Yuuri found himself peering inside intently, holding his breath a little as he did. Viktor, he noticed after the fourth or fifth time, couldn't seem to stop looking back over his shoulder. Maybe he was making sure the doors stayed open. Maybe he, like Yuuri, couldn't shake the feeling that this place was not as empty as it appeared.  

Partway down the hall, halfway between the front doors and a wide flight of stairs, Yuri stopped. "Hey, I have to piss," he said without turning around. 

"Um," Yuuri said. He glanced to their left. They had, in fact, stopped in front of a bathroom door but somehow—plumbing functionality aside—it seemed almost silly to use a toilet in an abandoned building. 

Yuri clearly did not feel the same way. He pushed the door open with a creek, glanced inside, then looked back at the other two. "I'm not going in there by myself." 

Viktor shook his head, but followed, and Yuuri did as well after casting another long look up and down the hallway. The bathroom was, really, just like one would expect a school bathroom to look like: four stalls, four sinks, four urinals, a bench, and a tile floor with a drain at one end. The windows in here were high up on the walls, making the room a few degrees darker than the hallway. Yuri disappeared into one of the stalls, banging the door closed behind him. 

 Yuuri moved to sit on the edge of the bench, sticking his hands between his thighs in an attempt to warm them up a little. It was _just_ cold enough that he could see the white vapor of Viktor's breath as he stood nearby checking his phone. 

"Any reception?" Yuuri asked. 

In response Viktor held his phone up higher, shaking his head a little. He walked closer to the wall with the windows on it, then let out a little, "Aha! One bar over here."  

"Are you going to try..." But Yuuri trailed off, realizing he didn't know who it would be best to call. Still, Viktor was clearly dialing someone as he got up and went over to him. 

"Yakov," Viktor said and held the phone to his ear—only to nearly drop it a second later when the phone let out a roar of static. Fumbling with the phone Viktor tried to make the sound stop, but just as before neither the power or volume buttons had an effect on it.  

And then over that Yuuri could hear another noise coming from outside. "The sirens," he said, already turning to bang on the door of the stall Yuri had gone into. "Yuri! Yuri I think you should come out of there..." 

"Shit," came Yuri's voice from inside. This was followed by a frantic shaking of the door. "Shit I can't get it open! I can't get it open!" 

The light from the windows was quickly fading. Yuuri grabbed the top of the stall door and pulled, but it still didn't budge. "Yuri what's the latch like?" 

"It's one of those slidy things I can't move it!" Yuri's voice was cut through with an edge of panic as he rattled the door again. 

Yuuri looked around the room. It was so dark now that he could barely make out anything other than faint outlines. "Yuri, stand back from the door, I have an idea!" he called, giving Yuri a split second before he turned and kicked the door as hard as he could.  

The old wood splintered and shattered from the blow, showering Yuri with dust and debris, but at least he could get out. Yuri stumbled out of the stall, brushing himself off. Sudden harsh LED light illuminated their surroundings as Viktor turned on his phone's flashlight.  

The sirens and static faded, leaving them in deathly silence. 

"It changed," Yuri said in a small voice.  

This was a gross simplification. The room _had_ changed, it was true; the walls had turned from plaster to rusted metal, the tile floor beneath their feet was slicked with something brown and red and viscous. The stalls and sinks were still there, but the wood was now rotted, paint peeling, and as Viktor turned the light upwards they saw instead of a ceiling, above their head was metal grating and beyond it darkness.  

The air had also acquired a moist, earthy kind of humidity. 

"Should we... leave?" Yuuri asked after a beat. "I don't know which would be worse, being outside or being in here." 

"Leaving is our goal, isn't it," Viktor said, then sighed heavily. "I know what you meant."  

For a moment none of them said anything, instead standing in their loose huddle and letting the shock of the situation wash over them. 

From outside the door there came a sound:  

_Boom._  

It was so low and so big that Yuuri felt it in his chest more than he heard it, and he found himself immediately glancing around the room looking for some way out, but besides the door all he saw were the tiny windows, so high up on the walls, and so dark. 

Slowly Viktor took a step towards the door, holding his phone aloft, the shaking light casting strange shadows over the gore-splattered floor and rust-weeping walls. Yuri sucked in a sharp breath, grabbing Yuuri’s arm. “Katsu-” he began to whisper, but cut himself off, fingers digging painfully into Yuuri’s bicep. 

There was another sound now, this  one rough and metallic, like a blade being drawn slowly across a too-old sharpener. It came intermittently, each time a little louder and a little closer. Still, none of their phones were giving off the static that they had when the blade footed creatures approached, though somehow Yuuri was sure this was worse. 

Viktor moved closer to the door, raising his free hand as he did.  

“What are you doing?!” Yuri hissed. “Don't _open_ it!” 

But Viktor reached for the lock above the doorknob. Moving slowly he turned the latch, and the minute it clicked he took a few quick steps backwards. Yuuri’s heart was in his throat as they listened to the scraping, grating noise grow louder, his legs aching from resisting the adrenaline-fueled urge to run, his arm starting to fall asleep from how tightly Yuri was holding it. 

The grating sound was right outside the door when it stopped. They all held their breaths, waiting, waiting. Something dragged against the other side of the door. Viktor lifted his free hand to cover his mouth, his eyes wide and eerily pale in the light from the phone. 

Two things happened at once: Viktor’s phone began to ring, loudly, the ringer at full volume, and in immediate response, whatever was outside let out a deep, inhuman scream. 

Viktor shouted out of pure panic, scrabbling with the phone though he couldn't seem to turn it off. The thing on the other side of the door was rattling the knob now, banging against it. Finally Viktor dropped his phone to the ground and brought his heel down on it, hard.  

The room plunged into darkness, but the ringing stopped, and so did the sounds from outside. All Yuuri could hear now through the suffocating dark was the sounds of Viktor's ragged breathing, stifled as though he had his hands pressed over his mouth.  

After a torturous second, they heard the dragging sound again, this time moving away from them, growing quieter. Yuuri felt for his own phone. The first thing he saw when he turned the light on was Viktor, hands over his mouth, cheeks wet and shining in the glow from the phone. 

Yuri was the first to speak. He had dropped the knife and was hanging onto Yuuri's arm with both hands now, though when he spoke his voice was surprisingly steady and matter-of-fact. "We... are _so_ fucked." 


	5. End of Small Sanctuary

Yuri Plisetsky did not know much about his father. He knew his parents had not been married. He knew his father was dead or at the very least completely out of the picture. He knew that his own patronymic—Nikolaevich—was from his grandfather. He knew his mother had never answered a single question about his father. 

And he remembered, very vividly, the way she had reacted upon seeing the picture Yuri drew at age six of himself, her, and his unknown father. The picture Viktor had found on the windshield of the abandoned car. The picture that was now folded in his pocket. 

He remembered watching his mother tear it to pieces. 

He also couldn't believe that he was thinking about the picture while standing in the middle of some nightmare bathroom, clutching Yuuri Katsuki's arm and listening to Viktor trying not to cry. If Yuri wasn't so terrified he would have been deeply embarrassed. 

As they stood there the room began to brighten, and as the shadows retreated so did all the strange features. It was not unlike how sometimes a dream lingered even after you opened your eyes, but was gone with only a blink; in a few seconds the bathroom was once again filled with murky grey daylight, once again just a bathroom.  

Yuri let go of Yuuri's arm, pushing a few steps back from him. He had dropped the kitchen knife but couldn't see it anywhere. What he _did_ see was Viktor's cell phone lying crushed and shattered on the floor a foot away. Yuri looked up at him. "Are you still crying?" 

"No," Viktor said, though he did use the heel of his palm to scrub at his cheeks. "Sorry." 

"I'm surprised _I'm_ not crying," Yuuri said with a strained, breathless laugh. "I think I might be in shock." 

Yuri walked over and picked up the broken phone. "This was smart," he said dryly, holding it out to Viktor.  

Viktor said nothing. He took the phone and looked at it contemplatively for a moment then pocketed it. Finally he offered, "You both have phones still. I think we should forget about the battery. We go back to the car, get some water bottles or something and walk back to the main road. We might even be able to walk all the way to that gas station and call someone from there." 

"I'd rather do that than meet whatever was walking around out there," Yuri said. Even as he said it, however, nagging curiosity flared up inside of him. Terror aside, he still had questions. Questions about this place, questions about what it all had to do with him. Frowning a little, he reached out and nudged Viktor's arm. "Hey. You said you had a bad dream, last night. And you knew the kid I saw was a boy." 

Viktor turned and gave him a strange look. He flexed his hand. “It was just a dream, Yura.” 

“Yeah but…” Yuri trailed off. They all looked at the door, but none of them moved to open it. Yuri looked back at Viktor. 

“All right,” Viktor said, taking a deep breath. “All right, let's try this again.” He approached the door. He unlocked it. He turned the knob and pushed it open. Looking out into the hall, he sighed and cursed softly under his breath. 

“What now?” Yuri said, stepping forward to peer around Viktor. The hall outside was not the hall they had come in through. Looking to the right Yuri saw instead of the doors to the school a wall with a single grey window in the middle. He elbowed Viktor. “Hey, there's stairs over there, we just need to go down, right?” 

“God I hope so,” Viktor said, stepping into the hall and motioning the other two out of the bathroom. 

This hallway was lined with tall metal lockers. Some were rusted shut, others the doors hung mostly off their hinges, and a few were missing the doors entirely. It made Yuri think of missing teeth. As the three of them started towards the stairs he reached out and lightly grabbed hold of Viktor's coat sleeve, then realized what he was doing and let go. 

The stairs, they found as they approached, descended into darkness. If they did lead to the first floor, something had changed since they entered the school. The three of them stopped, staring down into the stairwell. After a moment Yuri noticed that the other two were staring at him. "What?" 

"You just said something," Yuuri said. 

Yuri scowled. "No I didn't." 

"You did." 

"What do you think I said?" 

Yuuri pushed his glasses back up his nose. "I don't know, it was in Russian." 

"You said you want to go home," Viktor said in that infuriatingly calm voice he was forcing. "It is alright, Yura. We're all scared, we all want to leave." 

"I didn't say anything!" Yuri shouted, glaring at them. "That wasn't me—" 

From behind them, he heard his own voice say, "Yes it was." 

They all spun around. Standing a few yards back the way they had come was a little boy in a threadbare winter coat. When he lifted his head, Yuri saw his own face, younger, more starved, but still his own face. Meeting Yuri's gaze, the boy said, "You left something behind," and with a soft laugh lifted the kitchen knife. 

Next to Yuri, Viktor let out a quiet sound, taking a step backwards and reaching behind himself for the railing so he didn't fall down the stairs. But whatever he thought the doppelganger was going to do, the smaller Yuri simply turned to face the bare wall. He lifted something in his other hand—a piece of paper, it looked like—and put it against the wall, then with a swift stabbing motion used the knife to pin it to the crumbling plaster.  

He turned back and started walking towards them. Tears were welling in his eyes as he did, and when he spoke his voice no longer sounded like Yuri's did now, but the way a small child's voice was _supposed_ to sound: high pitched and wavering. "Wh-wh-where's Mama?!" he choked out, scrubbing at his eyes with his small, too thin hands. "I am hungry and I want to go _home_ , why is she not coming back?!" 

Yuri couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. All he could do was watch the child—watch himself—coming closer.  

"Where is she?!" The child demanded through his tears. He lifted his hands, reaching for Yuri, but his expression was twisted into a look of fury that seemed grossly out of place on such a small face. " _WHERE IS SHE?!"_  

Yuri let out a startled gasp as the child lunged at him. He jumped to the side, bumping into Yuuri and holding his hands up. Without him there, the child fell forward down the stairs, pitching into the darkness. Yuuri let out a shout and made a grab for him, but the child slipped through his hands like smoke, and disappeared. 

"Shit," Yuri gasped. Everything was simply too much for a moment, his mind spinning as it tried to wrap around the situation. He wanted, really, to pull his hood over his head and curl up in the middle of the floor, but he couldn't do that, not now. Instead he wiped the single tear from the side of his nose and looked at the other two. " _What_?" 

Yuuri held a hand out placatingly. "Are you okay?" he asked. 

"I'm fine," Yuri said, though he gave himself a shake. "That... ghost kid or whatever just scared me." 

Viktor ran a hand over his face. "That was you. That was..." 

"So what, we've seen a lot of weird shit," Yuri said. He tried to sound unshaken, but he didn't know how well it worked. Judging from the way Yuuri and Viktor were still looking at him, the answer was 'not very well.' Giving himself another shake he turned and walked over to see what his double had pinned to the wall. "Uh....you two should come over here." 

Viktor and Yuuri walked over to him. Pinned to the wall was a page from a newspaper. The date in the corner showed that it was from the year Yuri was born. That was not what caught his eye, however. Without saying anything, Yuri reached out and put his fingertip against the black and white photograph of a woman in the middle of the main article. She looked older in the picture than when they had seen her, but they all recognized her. 

" _Svetlana_ _Sergyeva_ _Balakhnina,_ " Viktor read from the caption below the picture, " _One of the victims of the Bezhmolvinitin coal mine fire this past Saturday. The town, which was founded by the Soviet government_ _in the late 1950's, was evacuated immediately after the fire broke out due to the potential of toxic fumes.._ " 

"Oh great!" Yuri cut in. "Great, maybe we're all just hallucinating because of toxic fumes! Or maybe I am actually dying and my brain decided the last thing I had to do was go on a fucked up adventure with the two of you. Wonderful." 

Yuuri shifted uncomfortably. "If this is completley a hallucination how would your brain know about the mine fire in the first place? You said you'd never heard of this town before. Your brain wouldn’t just guess that it was toxic fumes." 

Yuri tried to come up with a scathing retort but he wasn't exactly sure what Yuuri was suggesting, so he settled for giving him a light scowl instead, then ripping the article off the wall. Holding it in both hands he stared at the picture of Svetlana again. "So we spent the night with a dead lady." 

"It would seem that way," Viktor said. "Hey—look at the stairs." 

Yuri looked. The stairs were no longer dark. The same watery grey light that filled the hall where they stood now illuminated the staircase, making it appear far less forboding than it had a minute ago. Folding the newspaper, Yuri put it in his pocket with the drawing. He rubbed his nose. "So are we going or what?" 

"We're going," Viktor said, nodding.  

They descended the stairs slowly, not because there was actually anything wrong, but because none of them expected the stairs to actually deposit them where they wanted to go. And yet when they reached the bottom, there they were on the first floor of the school again, staring at the old front doors that still stood ajar the way Viktor had left them. 

The trio did not hesitate for more than a half second before rushing for the doors and pushing out into the cold, gray day, gasping with relief as they did.  

"Fuck this," Yuri said, shaking his head. "Fuck all of— _shit_ what now?!" A faint, barely audible static was coming from his and Yuuri's pockets where they had their phones. Looking around as the sound grew louder, however, Yuri couldn't see anything moving.  

Then Viktor pointed wordlessly down the front walk of the school. 

Two figures stood at the end, so close their shoulders were touching. They looked like people, but their features were indistinct and their faces non-existent. Yuri felt the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.  

"They look like what we saw outside the apartment building," Yuuri whispered. "That thing just watched us, maybe we can just walk past them?" 

"Maybe," Viktor said, but he sounded dubious. "Though perhaps we should cut across the yard to get to the road, give them a wide berth."  

Yuri did not argue as they turned and started across the yard. He did keep his eye on the two faceless figures though, and saw that they turned to watch the three of them. Or face the three of them; they didn't appear to have eyes so Yuri wasn't entirely sure they were _watching_ them, though it sure felt like they were. 

He was glad when the road turned a little and the figures disappeared from view.  

Flipping his hood up, Yuri reached for Viktor and Yuuri's arms. When Viktor gave him a strange look he said roughly, "I don't want to get separated okay?" 

Viktor said nothing, and they continued walking. Yuri kept his head down anyway, partially to keep the slight wind out of his eyes and partially because he didn't want to think about what might be lurking in the grayness. At least their phones were silent.  

They walked, and they walked, and they walked. The light around them did not change, but they at least went unbothered. Yuri didn't know how much time passed. He felt almost like his brain was slipping into some kind of fugue state.  

Maybe he _was_ dying.  

He tightened his hold on Viktor's arm. 

And then, after some time, Yuuri said, "...did we go the wrong way?" 

They came to a stop. Yuri looked up and saw they were standing at the edge of a wide open yard. High chain link fences topped with barbed wire surrounded it, but the gate in front of them stood open. Yuri could see a handful of large, low buildings that looked like factories or warehouses, and the indisctinct shapes of unfamiliar machinery. 

"What is this?" Yuri asked, craning his neck a little, trying to make out what lay before them. 

It was a moment before Viktor said quietly, "It's the mine. We're on the other side of town from the car." 

"I am never trusting you with directions again," Yuri said, but there was no feeling behind it. Something cold and wet settled on his cheek. He blinked, wiping it away, then frowned as more snowflakes began to drift down. 

Somewhere over their heads and very close, a siren began to wail.  

"Oh no," Viktor said. "Oh _God,_ no."  

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who's been leaving feedback, i'm glad you're all enjoying this so much!! and feel free to swing by and say hi on Tumblr, i'm QueenSabriel over there as well :)


	6. Walk on Vanity Ruins

The world around them began to darken. Thick curtains of snow fell from a sky turning quickly from grey to black, and strange sounds drifted out of the growing darkness. Viktor looked around, eyes wide and straining to see something, anything really. Finally he let out a shout and pointed; just inside the fence was an office or management building, a single room on a raised platform. It didn't look particularly strong, but it was nearby and it had a door.  

“There!” he shouted. “Yura! Yuuri! Go, I'll be right behind you!” 

Yuri looked terrified and reluctant to go first, so Yuuri took off leading the way. It was only a few dozen yards between the gate and the building, but the day became so pitch black as they ran that Yuuri had to turn on his phone light again just to find the stairs.  

Illuminated in the shaky patch of light, the building did not look quite so inviting now. Wooden stairs had turned to rusted metal, the front door looked more like what one might expect to find on a furnace room: heavy, lined with bolts, with a single tiny window in the middle. Still it opened when Yuuri gave it a hard tug, letting the three of them into what still somewhat resembled an office, albeit a decaying and ruined one. 

Viktor shoved the door closed, then grabbed a splinter of metal from the floor and used it to bar the handle. Something clanged off the outside. The sirens faded, but the darkness remained. Yuuri kept his phone held high, which was enough to light up the tiny room. Yuri had crouched in the middle of the room, hugging his knees, his head bowed, muttering “We’re dead, oh my god, we’re dead…” under his breath in Russian, over and over again. 

Yuuri met Viktor’s eyes. He looked afraid.  

Stepping closer, Viktor put one hand on Yuuri’s arm and leaned in until their foreheads touched. They remained like that for a second before Yuuri handed Viktor his phone so he could crouch in front of Yuri. 

“Hey, Yurio, give me your hand,” he said. 

It was telling of the situation that Yuri did so without remarking on either the odd request or the use of his less-than-beloved nickname.  

Yuuri put the younger boy’s hand against his chest and asked, “Can you feel my heartbeat?” 

Yuri looked at him, confused, but nodded. 

“See, we’re still alive,” Yuuri said. “We’re going to get out of here. Viktor and I are going to get you out of here, I promise.” 

It was a very specific choice of words, Viktor noticed. _Viktor and I are going to get you out of_ _here_. He wondered if Yuuri had meant it that way. Not ' _we are going to get out'_ but _'we are going to get you out_.' It was what Viktor couldn't bring himself to say. He still hoped it wouldn't have to come to that, but there was no question about what they would do if it did. 

Viktor looked away from the other two for a moment, holding the phone a little lower as he went to the door to try and see out the little window in the center. He pressed his face to the glass, trying to discern something in the blackness, but there was nothing.  

"Hey, asshole, bring the light back over here." 

Turning from the door Viktor lifted the phone up and saw that both Yuri and Yuuri had gotten to their feet again. He started to walk over to them, then jumped when something slammed into the door behind him. It did not sound very large, but the initial _bang_ was followed by soft tapping sounds, and none of that was especially reassuring. Viktor turned, facing the door as he pressed closer to the other two. 

Yuuri tugged on the back of his coat. "Vitya. _Vitya_ , there's another door!" 

Viktor turned and saw that Yuuri was right, though he couldn't remember if there had been a door there before. Still, it was there now, a smaller than normal metal door on the opposite wall. Yuuri went to it and grasped the handle, turning it with a faint screech and pulling the door open. He looked inside for a second then drew back. "Let me have the phone for a second." 

Viktor passed him the phone. The light faded a little as Yuuri looked back into whatever was on the other side of the door.  

"It's a staircase leading down," he said as he turned back, making a spiral motion with one finger.  

"Fuck that," Yuri said, even as he pressed against Viktor's side. 

Whatever was outside banged against the door again, then resumed its metallic tapping. 

"Yura it's either the stairs or _that_ ," Viktor said. 

Yuri closed his eyes and let out a sound that was half-sigh, half-groan. "Fine. But you two go first." He fished in his coat pocket as he did, taking out his phone and switching the light on. 

_Bang._  

_Tap_ _tap_ _tap_ _tap_ _tap._  

Yuuri caught Viktor's gaze for a split second, then turned and stepped through the doorway. Viktor followed, and Yuri brought up the rear, pulling the door closed behind them. By the light of their phones they could see they were indeed standing on the top landing of a narrow concrete stair that spiraled down into darkness. From below a breath of warm, dry air wafted up to them.  

Viktor thought, inexplicably, of being in Moscow one winter very, very long ago and clutching his father's hand as he stood on one of the grates that led down to the metro tunnels, feeling a similar waft of air surrounding him. 

He gave himself a shake. They started down the stairs.  

Down.  

And down.  

And down. 

Somewhere around the two hundred and fiftieth step, Viktor lost count.  

At first all he could hear were their footsteps and Yuri's ragged breathing behind him, but after a while Viktor became aware of a low rumbling in the background, a distant, mechanical noise. It was growing warmer as they went down as well, so much so that by the time they finally reached the bottom of the stairs, Viktor had removed his coat and slung it over one shoulder. 

They were faced with another door. Yuuri opened it and they found themselves immediately bathed in orange light that seemed to radiate up from the floor. It took Viktor a moment to realize that the floor of the wide hallway ahead of them was metal grating, and that somewhere far below it were brightly burning coals and flames. He began to wonder if maybe they would have been better off fighting the thing that was trying to get to them. 

Yuuri started down the hall. 

"I think I like your boyfriend better when he's being a crybaby," Yuri said, nudging Viktor in the back. "Hey, Katsudon! Slow down, how about you _don't_ get us killed, all right?!" 

"This is the only way to go," Yuuri said, looking back over his shoulder with a frown. "Unless you want to go back upstairs?" 

Viktor held up his hand. "It's all right, Yuuri, just... be careful?" 

"Yeah. Yeah of course," Yuuri said, taking a careful step onto the grating. It seemed sturdy enough, however, so they started down the hall with a little more confidence.  

Looking to their right, Viktor saw that it was more of a room than a hallway. The space was maybe a hundred feet wide and a hundred and fifty feet long, and the other wall had two high arching doorways in it leading off into darkness. Each had garage-door style hatches lowered part way, giving them the appearance of half-lidded eyes.  

Viktor and Yuuri had walked a few yards before Viktor got the feeling that Yuri was no longer behind him. Stopping, he turned and looked back to see that Yuri was still by the door, having just pulled it closed. 

"Yura, come on, stay close to me," Viktor called. 

Yuri rolled his eyes. "Yeah I'm—" 

Something exploded through the metal wall between them. 

For a moment Viktor was too startled to move and all he could do was stare in shock as the figure that had burst into the hall straightened. It looked like a man, taller than any normal man, wearing only an apron-like leather skirt. On its shoulders rested a metal helmet in the shape of an elongated pyramid and for a moment the thing paused, running its free hand over the bottom of the helmet as though trying to push it off. 

Its other hand held the end of a long, thin blade. The blade must have been heavier than it looked, because as the thing took another step through the ruined wall the tip dragged on the ground, making a strange grating noise that Viktor recognized instantly; this was what had trapped them in the bathroom earlier. 

Then the thing turned to face Yuri, who was standing with his back plastered against the wall, his eyes wide. 

" _YURA GET DOWN!"_ Viktor shouted, just as, with obvious difficulty, the thing swung it's long blade in his direction. 

Yuri dropped to his stomach. The blade swung harmlessly over his head, grazing against the door with a horrific screech and sending up a shower of sparks. It hit the floor with a tooth-jarring _clang_ and the creature grabbed it with both hands now, clearly preparing to swing again.  

" _What do I do?!!"_ Yuri shouted, looking at Viktor from where he still lay. " _Viktor--_ _what do I do?!"_   

Viktor pointed to his left frantically, trying to get Yuri to move while he had the chance since the creature seemed fairly slow. Yuri scrambled sideways on his hands and knees, then at the last minute sprang out of the way just as the creature's blade came crashing down where he had been a moment before. Viktor made a dash for him, but the creature swung its bare arm up at the last second and struck Viktor hard in the chest.  

He fell backwards, the breath knocked from his lungs. For a horrible second Viktor gasped vainly for air, thinking his ribs were broken, then he managed to catch a wrenchingly dry breath, coughing and sitting up just in time to see the creature rounding on him now.  

Something on the other side of the space clanged loudly over and over, and then a woman's voice shouted, " _Hey you fucker, over here!"_  

The creature turned, jerking its covered head in the direction of the sound. Viktor looked as well; a woman with a floral scarf covering her hair stood by one of the open archways, hitting the wall with a long metal pipe.  

"Yeah, that's right you bastard!" Svetlana taunted, hitting the wall again and again. "You want a piece of this, huh? Come over here!"  

The creature began to lumber towards her. Yuuri bent to help Viktor to his feet, and the minute Yuri had the opportunity he sprinted over to them. His face was streaked with tears and snot and he flung himself at Viktor, hands fisting in the front of his shirt. Viktor wrapped both arms around Yuri, holding him to his chest as he watched the creature advancing on Svetlana, raising its blade as it did.  

Somehow this seemed to be what Svetlana wanted. She stood resolutely in the archway, her back to the darkness beyond. The creature swung its blade in an arching over-hand motion, and at the last minute Svetlana ducked and rolled to the side. The blade fell forward into empty space, and almost comically, the creature was pulled, tumbling, after it.  

Svetlana sprang to her feet, jumping to grab the sliding door and pull it down. Then she brushed her hands on her pants and walked over to Viktor, Yuuri and Yuri. 

"You could have..." Viktor began, staring at her. 

"I could have what?" Svetlana said. "Died? I've been dead for fifteen years, why would I care about that?" 

Holding onto Viktor's arm, Yuuri asked, "Who _are_ you? How.." 

"Both me and my brother died in this fire," she said, looking around with a strange expression. "It happened the day he returned to working in the mines after he left his girlfriend in Moscow." 

Viktor felt certain that wasn't what Yuuri had meant, but he also was not keen on staying here any longer than necessary. "Thank you for saving us from that...thing." 

"He is not dead, he will be back," Svetlana said. She paused for a moment, reaching down to cup Yuri's chin in her hand, smiling sadly down at him. Then she let her hand fall, before pointing at a door on the far wall. "You need to get out. None of you belong here. This place is the past now. Go, please." 

"We're going," Yuuri said, already tugging Viktor and Yuri in the direction of the other door. "Thank you, again." 

 Svetlana met Viktor's gaze. "You need to keep going, and don't look behind you." 

 


	7. Never End, Never End, Never End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE NOTE: I would have absolutely 100% tagged this as "character death" if someone was going to die, I'm not an asshole. Without spoiling anything, i'm just going to say Do Not Worry!!

There was something wrong with Katsudon. Maybe not wrong in the same way that being chased by _literal monsters_ through an abandoned coal mine was wrong, but despite outward indications, Yuri was not oblivious to his companions. He knew Yuuri was acting strangely. Then again, that might not be entirely fair as they were _all_ probably acting strangely, considering that their current circumstances weren't exactly normal. 

"Yuuri!" This was Viktor, jogging a little to catch up to his boyfriend before grabbing the back of his jacket. "Wait, we have no idea where we are going!"  

Yuuri stopped, turning to face the other two. "There's literally only one way we _can_ go." 

He wasn't wrong. After leaving the hall where they had been attacked, they went through another door and found themselves in a narrow passage bored through bare rock. Though it was wide enough for Viktor to stand with both arms spread and not touch either wall, the low ceiling and general darkness of the passage left an impression that it was squeezing in on them. Yuri was not claustrophobic but he didn't exactly care for this.  

Yuri wrapped his arms around himself as he watched the other two, for once not compelled to make any comment as Viktor put his hands on either side of Yuuri's face, murmuring something quietly to him. They kissed, lightly, and Yuuri kept his eyes closed for a moment afterwards, taking a few deep breaths. Viktor said something else to him that Yuri couldn't hear and Yuuri nodded, opening his eyes.  

"Yura?" Viktor turned, holding his hand out.  

Yuri didn't take his hand but he did stay closer to Viktor as they continued walking. 

The passage twisted and turned. The only sound they could hear was that strange mechanical background hum, low and far away. Yuri couldn't decide if the air was actually getting thicker and harder to breathe as they went or if he was just imagining it. He shivered, more from mental discomfort than any change in temperature and wrapped his arms around himself. 

Behind them a telephone rang. 

Yuri stopped dead. They all did. “What the shit?” Yuri breathed. The telephone continued ringing. It was one of those old fashioned ones, loud and jarring and unpleasant. Yuri looked back over his shoulder, but the sound seemed to be coming from around a bend in the passage behind them. He turned back and nudged Viktor. “Hey, are we going to…” 

“First of all,” Viktor said quietly, looking at Yuri out of the corner of his eye and not turning. “We were told not to look behind us. Secondly, what are you going to do? You want to answer it?” 

It was a fair point. Yuri bit his lip. What he did want was to be in Moscow like they were supposed to be, curled up on the couch in his grandfather’s living room. Or back in Saint Petersburg in his bedroom. Or in Viktor’s apartment. Hell, he would even take Mila’s place over this and that had too many girls in too little space for his liking. 

The phone stopped ringing. They continued walking.  

They had only gone a few dozen more yards when Yuri’s cell phone began to ring. He jumped at the sudden buzzing in his pocket, then pulled it out. Ahead of him the other two stopped. Yuri looked down at the screen; like in a dream the display was illegible, numbers and letters bleeding incomprehensibly across it. Yuri looked up at Viktor, who gave a small shake of his head. 

Yuri answered it anyway. “Hello?” 

For a moment, silence. And then static, with a man's voice spoke in raspy, strained Russian, “ _…Yuri…forgive me…_ _please…please I am so sorry…_ ” 

“Who the hell is this?” Yuri demanded. He tried to sound tough and sure of himself, but his voice came out in a squeak. 

“ _…tell her…tell_ _Ksenia_ _…_ _I would have_ _…_ ” Static consumed the man's voice and a second later the line went dead, leaving Yuri staring at the phone in dismay. 

Viktor and Yuuri were watching him. Yuuri stepped a little closer. “Yurio? Are you ok? Who…” 

“I don't know,” Yuri said, still looking at his now dark and silent phone. “But he knew... he knew my mother's name, whoever he was. He wanted me to tell her something.” A weird, tight feeling was creeping up into his throat, the way he felt after he had been crying for too long. Yuri rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.  

Viktor started to reach for Yuri’s shoulder, then he stopped, tipping his head back and sniffing at the air. 

“What?” Yuri said, raising an eyebrow. 

“Does anyone else smell disinfectant?” Viktor said, baffled.  

Yuri and Yuuri both took a few short inhales. Yuri blinked. There it was, that sterile, sharp scent that usually went along with doctors' and dentists' offices. The smell in and of itself was not strange but it was definitely at odds with the rock and compacted dirt that surrounded them. Yuri gave himself a shake. 

"Let's just keep going, okay?" he said. 

*** 

After a few more minutes, the passage came to an abrupt end. There was no door, it just opened up into a a wide cave or room. The floor looked like it had once been tiled in white linoleum but now in more places than not the tiles were torn or worn away leaving only bedrock. The walls too were crumbling away. There were mine carts lined up along the wall, and wooden or metal bins scattered around, but interspersed with those Yuri was alarmed to also see hospital beds, wheelchairs, and at least one rusting metal desk. 

"Okay," Yuuri said. "This is...what now?" 

Yuri pushed forward to stand between the other two. He looked to the right and saw that the room ended in a wall, in the middle of which was a large freight elevator, the kind that had a sliding metal grate for a door. A single button with a down arrow glowed conspicuously on the wall next to it. The room was lit by large industrial lights high above their heads, but the ones at the far end of the room were dead, leaving it impossible to see where the left end of the space led. 

"There's an elevator..." Viktor said uncertainly.  

"It only goes down," Yuri said. 

They stood for another minute, then Yuuri turned to face the other two. "Yuri... I keep thinking this all has to have something to do with you." 

"What?!" Yuri stared at him. He didn't know which was worse, that Yuuri had time to actually think in the middle of all of this or that he was thinking about _Yuri_. "I didn't do this! What the fuck?!" 

"No, I mean..." Yuuri gestured, then rubbed the back of his neck. "We saw the little kid version of _you_. That drawing we found was one _you_ had drawn. Svetlana seemed... I mean she acted like she knew who you are. Whoever called us in that passage called _your_ phone and knew _your_ mother's name." 

Yuri wrapped his arms around himself. He looked up at Viktor, but Viktor just gazed silently back at him. "I don't _know_ _,_ okay? I don't know what this place wants from me!" Yuri said, his voice starting to crack. He could feel tears stinging the corners of his eyes. "I don't understand and I don't _care_ _—_ I just want to go home!" 

A gust of hot air blew through the cavern. It smelled simultaneously of hot metal and cold disinfectant. Yuri squeezed his eyes shut, taking a few deep breaths to keep himself from breaking down entirely. When he opened them again he could see, standing twenty or thirty feet away from them, three of the strange shadowy figures they had seen before. 

"What do you want?!" Yuri shouted at them. A sudden surge of adrenaline made him push Viktor and Yuuri out of the way. He stalked in the direction of the figures. "What the fuck do you want from us?!" 

When he got too close, the figures glided suddenly backwards, maintaining distance between them. Yuri squared his shoulders, staring at them and breathing heavily. Fear was starting to creep back into his mind, but he did not back away just yet. 

" _Yura_ ," Viktor hissed from behind him, voice pleading. 

In unison, the three shadow figures cocked their heads to the side. Then they raised their hands and pointed behind Yuri. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and he very much did not want to look, but he did anyway—all he saw was the freight elevator. 

"You want me to get on that?" he said, looking back at the figures. 

They opened their mouths, which glowed red hot from within. The sound they let out was a deafening roar like too-loud static or the shouting of a crowd. With the sound came another wash of even hotter, drier air. Yuri squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his hands over his ears until most of what he could hear was just the steady pounding of his own rapid heartbeat. 

When he lowered his hands, the figures were gone, and all was silent again. 

Viktor was also at his side, and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Why did you do that?!"  

"Let go," Yuri said, half-heartedly trying to push Viktor's hands away. "They didn't do anything to me." 

"You didn't know that when you ran at them!" Viktor said. 

"I didn't _run_ at them, _Vitka_ , I—" 

"Guys, _shh_ , be quiet!" 

Yuri rounded on Yuuri. "Don't shush me! I'm sick of both of you bossing—" 

"Shut up!" Yuuri said, waving his hands at him.  

This took Yuri so much by surprise that he _did_ stop talking, and the minute he did he realized why Yuuri had told him to. There was a sound coming from the darkness at the far end of the room, faint and growing louder: _Clink... clink... clink... clink..._  

The two remaining cell phones began to crackle and buzz, just as a figure materialized out of the gloom, staggering towards the trio and wavering uncomfortably on its metal legs. As it stepped into the light it stopped, node-like head twitching.  

Yuri held his breath. He looked to the left and saw a sheet of corrugated metal leaning against the side of a nearby hospital bed. Moving slowly, he took a few steps sideways and grabbed it just as the blade-footed monster darted forward, then leaned back on its fists and kicked at him. 

Its feet hit the metal with a loud _bang_ and a jolt that Yuri felt all the way up his arms and into the sockets of his shoulders. It kicked again and he fell backwards, dropping the metal and landing hard on his side. Dazed, he saw his still-crackling cell phone lying  on the ground where it had fallen from his coat pocket. The blade-foot creature was advancing on him again, and one of its feet pierced cleanly through the phone which stuck for a moment to the long blade. 

The creature paused for just a second to kick it away, and Yuuri took the opportunity to snatch up the sheet of metal and swung it, hitting the blade-foot creature with the flat side. The creature stumbled and Yuuri hit it again, knocking the creature onto its back. It lay there, kicking its sharp legs in the air. Yuuri darted around the flailing blades and stood over the creature's head, then brought the metal down on end with a sickening sort of squelch, severing the creature's head with the sharp edge.  

Yuuri's cell phone went quiet. He dropped the metal, then looked down at his hands. He wasn't bleeding, but there were angry red lines across his palms from where the metal had rubbed against his skin. He winced a little, squeezing his hands shut before looking at the others. 

"Yura," Viktor was kneeling to help Yuri up. "Are you all right?" 

"Yeah," Yuri said. "That fucker broke my phone though." 

Yuuri coughed. "Hey, at least it didn't break _you_." 

"Nothing can break me," Yuri said, though he was feeling less and less certain of that the longer they were in this place.  

Their relief lasted only seconds. Another sound reached them, making all three look up in unison. This one was by now all too horribly familiar—a long, grating _shhhhhhnkkk_ of metal being dragged against stone.  

"Oh, shit," Yuri breathed. His eyes widened as he tried to see anything in the darkness, and was almost glad when he couldn't. "Oh _shit_ , that's _him_ isn't it?" 

"Maybe the... elevator isn't a bad idea," Yuuri said, his eyes wide as well. Beside him Viktor nodded.  

None of them wanted to turn their back on the pyramid thing, if that was indeed the source of the noise, so they started taking slow steps backwards, occasionally glancing behind themselves to make sure they weren't about to run into anything.  

When they were a little ways from where the light ended, the pyramid-headed thing appeared. It stood, just at the edge of the darkness, facing them, its long blade held in one hand. If it had been injured at all by what Svetlana had done, it didn't look it.  

The three of them froze. 

The thing hefted its blade a little, lifting its free hand to make that strange pushing motion against its iron helmet again. Then it charged at them. 

" _Fuck!"_ Viktor shouted, and now they did turn, running towards the elevator as fast as they could. Viktor put both hands on Yuri's back, pushing him ahead of them. Yuri did not turn around, focusing instead on the elevator which suddenly now seemed like a perfectly wonderful sanctuary.  

He wasn't sure what happened next. Someone—Yuuri or Viktor—shouted, and the next thing Yuri knew they were all on the ground. There was a rush of air as the pyramid-headed creature's blade swung over them and got stuck in a minecart to their left. This, at least, distracted the thing for a moment as it tried to pull its weapon free. 

In that brief second Viktor got up and grabbed Yuri by the back of his jacket, hauling him to his feet and throwing him bodily into the elevator before turning to help Yuuri. The minute Yuri was in the elevator however, the metal grate that served as a door began to clatter closed. 

"Viktor!" Yuri shouted, jumping forward to grab the door and try vainly to pull it back open. " _Viktor!_ " 

Viktor looked back over his shoulder at Yuri.  

Behind him, Yuri could see that the creature had gotten its blade free of the cart and was turning towards them again,  

Yuri thought his heart was going to burst. He grabbed the grate and shook it, shouting, "VIKTOR LOOK BEHIND YOU!"  

Viktor spun around just as the creature struck forward with the blade.  

Someone cried out but Yuri didn't know if it was Yuuri or Viktor or himself. His gaze was focused entirely on the blade as it pierced clean through Viktor's side, the tip coming out bloody and dripping before the pyramid head creature pulled it back through again. 

Gasping, Viktor stumbled backwards, but did not fall. He pressed one hand to the wound, blood oozing from between his fingers as he turned to face the elevator again. Yuri saw his face, paler than normal, twisted in an expression of excruciating pain, but his eyes were still bright. 

"We... will find you," Viktor ground out, managing one step closer before he had to double over a little, gasping. He looked up and met Yuri's eyes again. "Yura... we _will_... find you." 

Yuri realized what Viktor was planning a second before he did it. " _NO!_ " Yuri cried, falling forward against the door and sticking his hand through, trying to grab Viktor. " _NO VIKTOR DON'T! PLEASE DON’T_ _!_ _"_  

But Viktor swerved out of reach, managing to slam his open palm against the elevator button before he finally collapsed to the ground where he lay unmoving. 

" _VIKTOR!"_ Yuri screamed, but the elevator workings were grinding to life and he instinctively yanked his hand back inside.  He began to cry, mostly blinded by the tears but still able to see Viktor lying in a heap against the wall, blood soaking through his clothes. " _VIKTOR!"_  

With a jolt the elevator began to move downwards. The sudden movement caused Yuri to fall to his knees. Darkness surrounded him, complete and consuming. Shaking, Yuri felt for his phone, until he remembered that the blade footed creature had destroyed it. 

Then his hand found something else in his pocket, something small and made of rubber. Yuri pulled it out, and when he squeezed it light shone brightly out of one end.  

It was the little tiger keychain that Viktor had bought for him back at the gas station. Despite the reassurance of the light, what Yuri felt welling up in himself was fear, and hopelessness, and most of all grief. Clutching the keychain to his chest, he began once again to sob uncontrollably. 

The elevator continued to descend. 


	8. Flower Crown of Poppy

As the elevator disappeared from sight, Yuuri did not have time to check if Viktor was awake or even if he was _alive_ before the creature lifted its blade again. Grabbing another sheet of metal from the floor Yuuri dove between Viktor's prone form and the beast, lifting the metal up just in time to deflect the blade as it fell.  

_Bang!_  

The creature reeled backwards, then hauled itself upright. At least it didn't seem capable of moving _too_ quickly with that blade. Yuuri peeked around the edge of the metal. To his surprise the creature was now turning to the left, towards the empty elevator shaft that Yuri had disappeared down. Striding forward the creature grabbed the grate with one hand and appeared to look down into the darkness.  

Yuuri held his breath.  

Below him, Viktor made a weak sound.  

_Thank God._  

Yuuri continued to hold his breath. 

Very slowly the creature turned, dragging its blade along with it. It ignored Yuuri and Viktor completely now, trudging back down the length of the cavern and disappearing into the darkness. Yuuri continued to hold his breath until he could no longer hear the sound of the blade grinding against the stone floor.  

Then he threw the metal aside and dropped to his knees. "Vitya?! _Vitya?!_ " 

"Oh." Viktor wheezed, grabbing Yuuri's arm. He struggled to sit up, face contorted for a moment until he was able to open his eyes. "Is it..." 

"It's gone, it just walked away," Yuuri said, his words tumbling out too fast. He felt like he couldn't catch his breath. He also didn't like how pale Viktor was, or the blue tint his lips had taken on. "Vitya, you're losing too much blood, I don't know what-what to..." 

Viktor let out a strained sound as he sat up a little straighter. "Need to put pressure on it," he grunted. "Your coat, Yuuri. Tie it tightly around my waist. I do not know where my coat went." 

Yuuri didn't hesitate, unzipping his coat and using the sleeves to tie it tightly over the wound in Viktor's side. He wasn't convinced it would do much good, but it was something. For a minute Viktor sat completely still, eyes squeezed shut, lips pressed together as he breathed heavily through his nose. 

A minute was too long. The lump that had been building in Yuuri's throat felt like it was strangling him now. When he spoke it came out in a rough whisper, "Vitya I don't know what to do." 

Viktor slowly opened his eyes. "Yuuri, look at me. Look. I love you, okay?" 

"I love you too," Yuuri said, but that just made tears start rolling down his cheeks. "You c-can't _die._ Not down here. Not anywhere." 

"Hah," Viktor scoffed. "I am not dying, Yuuri. Now listen to me: I am certain that thing is going after Yuri, I do not know why else it would have looked at the elevator then left so abruptly. Which means we need to follow it.” 

That sounded about as far from a good idea as Yuuri could imagine, but he also didn't have a better plan for finding Yuri. So he scrubbed his hands over his face, nodding, trying to catch his breath. There wasn't time for a breakdown, not now, not now… 

First, they had to stand up. He had to help Viktor up. Then, they had to walk after the pyramid thing. Two steps. 

Yuuri opened his eyes, focusing just on those two things and nothing else. He reached out and grasped Viktor under his arm, supporting him as they both struggled to their feet. Viktor cried out in pain, but he was able to stand. Once he was on his feet he had to take a minute before he could walk, and then he still needed to lean heavily on Yuuri. 

“Do you still have your phone? We will need the light up there.” 

“Yeah,” Yuuri said, feeling his pocket with the hand that was not supporting Viktor. “I don't know how much battery life it has left though.” 

Viktor grunted as they started to walk. “Only one way to find out. We need to get to Yura.” 

That was something Yuuri couldn't argue with. They both fell silent for a minute, focusing entirely on picking their way across the room, avoiding collisions with the mixture of mining and hospital equipment. At the edge of the darkness they paused, partly so Yuuri could get his phone out of his pocket, partly so they could make sure nothing was waiting for them in the shadows. 

Yuuri managed to keep one arm around Viktor and get his phone out and the flashlight on with the other hand. The light did not go very far, but at least they weren't likely to trip over anything or fall into any unexpected sinkholes as they went. Viktor coughed a little, but seemed resolute as they started forward. 

“What are we going to tell people?” Yuuri said, when the silence grew to be too much.  

Viktor glanced at him. “What?” In the harsh shine of the phone flashlight Viktor looked even more bloodless. 

“When we get out of here,” Yuuri said. "How are we even going to begin explaining this to anyone?" 

Viktor let out a strained laugh. "Therapists have heard some strange things, I am sure they're used to it." 

Yuuri laughed as well, though more from knowing it was a joke than actually thinking it was funny. He wasn't sure he could find anything funny at the moment. They continued walking. 

The room, as they discovered a few minutes later, did not go on forever. At the other end was a solid stone wall, like the one the elevator was set in, but this time with no apparent exit. Just as Yuuri was beginning to contemplate whether they had missed an exit somewhere and would have to walk back down the length of the room, a light flashed on to their right. Yuuri turned and found himself looking down a hospital corridor now, albeit a run down and long disused one.  

“That way, I'm going to guess,” Yuuri said, returning the phone to his pocket and using both hands to support Viktor as they turned and started towards the hall. 

“A hospital,” Viktor said weakly. “Just what I need.” 

Yuuri gave his arm a squeeze. “Shh. Just focus on walking…and stay conscious.” 

The disinfectant smell was much less out of place here, but as they walked Yuuri began to smell something else as well: burning. Not the pleasant comfort of wood smoke, however; this smelled at first harsh and chemical, then as they moved further down the hall it began to smell horribly organic, so much so that Yuuri gagged when a sudden waft of air blew across them. 

“ _Bozhe moi_ ,” Viktor muttered. He was hanging on Yuuri even more now, and though Yuuri was certainly not what you could call physically weak, this did slow their pace down a little. 

Yuuri readjusted Viktor’s arm around his shoulders and set his face in a hard expression, focusing on the far distant end of the hall. In the greenish glow of the fluorescent lights overhead he could just make out a door at the far end that looked a little different from those on either side of him, which he was steadfastly ignoring. If there was anything behind them, Yuuri was sure he didn't need to know about it. 

A sound behind them made Yuuri slow even further, then stop entirely. And when whatever it was spoke, he found himself feeling considerably less fear and more an exasperated sense of ‘ _not again.’_  

“ _Pozhaluysta!_ _”_ said a boy's voice. “ _Pozhaluysta, Viktor_..." 

Viktor tensed. His head hung forward, and Yuuri had to lean over a little to see his face, which was still unnervingly pale and shone with a faint sheen of sweat in the harsh lighting. "I am going to listen this time," Viktor muttered. "I am not going to turn around." 

Yuuri had no idea what he was talking about, which worried him. Still, _he_ had no reason not to look, so he straightened and glanced back over his shoulder.  

He recognized the person standing behind them immediately: it was Viktor. Ten years younger, hair falling well below his shoulders, expression deeply sad and frightened, but Viktor all the same. He did not look at Yuuri, instead keeping his gaze focused on his older self.  

"Vitya," Yuuri breathed. "Vitya it's—" 

"I know who it is," Viktor said, taking a shuddering breath. "And I am not looking." 

From the darkness behind the younger Viktor materialized one of the formless, faceless shadow creatures that they had seen a few times now. It stood directly behind him, and as Yuuri watched, put a hand on Viktor's shoulder in an possessive kind of way.  

" _Viktor_ ," the younger one, the ghost, whatever he was, begged. 

The shadow creature's hands were on his sides now, holding him around his waist, then sliding too slowly around and up his body. The sight made Yuuri feel a sudden, deep-seated discomfort somewhere in the pit of his stomach. He glanced at the real Viktor, but he was still intently oblivious to what was happening behind them. Reluctantly, Yuuri looked back again. 

The ceiling light behind the younger Viktor and the shadow creature went out. Then the one above them, causing them to vanish from Yuuri's sight. Then the one in front of where they had been. Then the next one. Slowly, bit by bit, the hall was falling into darkness. 

"Ah, Vitya," Yuuri said, a new urgency in his voice. "Vitya we need to hurry. _Now_."  

Any thought of asking Viktor what the vision he had just seen meant vanished from his mind as the lights continued to go out one by one. Yuuri got a firmer hold of Viktor and the two of them started walking again, as quickly as Viktor could possibly manage, hurrying towards the door at the far end. 

They reached the door as the last of the lights went out. In the moment of darkness as he fumbled for the doorknob, Yuuri could have sworn he felt something touch his back, but before he could really think about it too hard he got the door open. Red-orange light washed over them. On the other side of the door was a stairwell leading downwards and as Viktor and Yuuri made their way to the railing at the center, Yuuri looked down and could see that the glow was coming from far below.  

He could also hear the sound of the pyramid creature's blade, faint, but audible.  

"Well, the elevator took Yuri down," he said, looking at Viktor, who was holding onto the railing with his free hand and also looking downward.  

Viktor nodded, vaguely, and seemed to be steeling himself. "Then down we should go too." 

It was much more difficult getting Viktor down the stairs than it had been getting him down the hallway. Yuuri's own worries didn’t help either, the little voice in the back of his head that was saying even if they could make their way down to Yuri, how could he possibly get Viktor back out again with how much he seemed to be weakening?  

Their slowness combined with the fact that Yuuri had no idea how far down the stairs went meant that he also had no idea how long they spent walking. Somewhere in the back of his exhausted mind the thought that Yuri was lucky he got to take an elevator appeared, making Yuuri let out a single laugh. He quickly glanced at Viktor, but Viktor did not react, all of his focus seeming to be on moving down the stairs without collapsing.  

And then they were at the bottom. 

The stairs deposited them onto a metal walkway above what might have been the working face of the coal mine, but now appeared to just be flames and glowing coals. Waves of heat made everything ripple. Yuuri grimaced a little, glancing to their left where a rusted railing was all that stood between them and the fiery coal pit. To their right was solid wall and, a little ways down, the bottom of the elevator shaft. As they approached it they saw that the elevator was there, but empty. 

Viktor lifted his head. "Well," he said. "There is only one way Yura could have gone..." 

Yuuri nodded, swallowing and coughing a little as the dry, hot air hit the back of his throat. It was true; Yuri could only have gone forward, but that also meant that the pyramid monster had to be there as well.  

"How are you holding up?" Yuuri asked Viktor. 

Viktor did not reply. He took a strained breath and leaned a little heavier against Yuuri. "Let's keep walking." 

"Okay," Yuuri said quietly, his brow furrowing.  

He did not think this would end well for any of them. 


	9. Promise (Reprise)

The elevator had stopped, but Yuri couldn't bring himself to get up immediately. The doors opened, giving him an unimpeded view of a metal walkway beyond, rippling slightly with heatwaves from whatever was filling the space with orange light. Finally he sat up and clicked off the tiger flashlight, keeping his middle finger through the keyring so he was less likely to lose it.

He wondered, briefly, if there was any point.

_I'm never seeing Viktor again because he's dead,_ Yuri thought numbly. _Katsudon's probably dead too. I'm never going to get out of here, so I'll never see Grandpa again, or Otabek, or Yakov, or Ms. Baranovskaya, or Mila…_

He squeezed his eyes shut, wondering what everyone was going to think happened. The three of them, inexplicably disappearing. Yuri choked back another sob, steeled himself, opened his eyes, took a step out onto the walkway.

To his left was a staircase, and he briefly considered running back up it, but from far in its upper reaches came the sound of dragging metal. Without giving another thought Yuri turned and hurried towards the right.

The walkway led to a pair of swinging doors, and when Yuri pushed through them he found himself in a hospital corridor, greenish lights flickering overhead. It was not unbearably cold in here, but the change in temperature from the heat of the walkway was a shock. Yuri looked around, then started slowly forward.

At the first door he came to he paused, though he didn't know why. Reaching out, Yuri pushed it open.

Inside was not a hospital room but instead Svetlana's tiny, cramped kitchen at night, lit by the single bare bulb over the table. The sight before Yuri was frozen, not like a photograph, but like someone had paused a movie. Svetlana stood by the stove, looking over her shoulder at a man seated by the table. The man had a mournful expression on his narrow face, his hair was short and light brown, his eyes wide and bright green.

Yuri held his breath.

Those eyes.

_His_ eyes.

The man turned to look at Yuri, his head moving in a jerky, incorrect way. For half a heartbeat he stared at Yuri, then he shouted, "GET OUT! GET _OUT_. _GET OUT!_ "

Yuri yelped in surprise, propelling backwards and turning to charge down the hallway, expecting any moment to hear something coming after him, but apart from the sound of his sneakers slapping the linoleum, the hallway was silent. Looking up, hand tightly clenched around the keychain, Yuri saw the end of the hallway suddenly twist further away from him, geometry impossible, like a hallway in a fun house.

It was also starting to get hotter, and a harsh, chemical tang burned his lungs when he tried to breathe.

A bang that Yuri felt more than heard sent him to his knees again. When he looked up, he saw that the hallway was on fire; flames licked up the walls, which burned and melted away to reveal stone and glowing, red hot coals. Yuri gasped; it was hard to breathe, and strange sounds surrounded him, deafening booms and the crackling and popping of an enormous fire.

It was also hotter than he ever imagined possible.

The ceiling a little way ahead of him collapsed suddenly, crumbling down in a shower of sparks and burning coals and tongues of fire. As the dust and smoke cleared, Yuri could see two figures on the floor. For a heart-stopping second he thought they were Viktor and Yuuri—but he quickly recognized that no, it was Svetlana and the man he had just seen.

The man was sitting up, half holding Svetlana in his lap. They were both covered in soot, wearing uniforms of some kind. The man's leg closest to Yuri looked mangled and turned at an angle and Svetlana he saw had a spike of metal sticking out of her side, though she was still breathing. Yuri remembered then, the last time she had appeared, Svetlana said that her brother had died with her in the fire, and he numbly realized that must be what he was witnessing.

The sounds of the fire quietened, somehow, and Yuri could hear them speaking. Or hear the man speaking.

"Sveta, Sveta…" he moaned deliriously. "You have to get up you have to get out…"

Svetlana managed a weak shake of her head. "I cannot, I am sorry. Fyodor I am sorry…"

Fyodor let out a barely audible sob, his head lolling forward. More burning coals and hot stones rained down around them and Yuri shuddered.

"I did something terrible," Fyodor said.

Svetlana shifted in his arms, then gasped in pain. Head tipping back against his shoulder she wheezed, "Does it matter?"

"I abandoned Ksenia Plisetsky."

Yuri held his breath.

"I _know_ ," Svetlana said. There was tension in her voice though this more likely had to do with the pain she was in than what her brother was telling her.

Fyodor coughed and gasped for air. "She was pregnant, Sveta. And if I had not I would still be alive…"

A cascade of rocks and coals blocked them from Yuri's sight. The sound and heat were still both muted, and Yuri knew he should be running but for some reason he could only continue to kneel there and stare at the place where his aunt and father had been a minute ago.

Even in his dying moments, even thinking of Yuri and his mother, Yuri's father's real thoughts had only been of himself. Yuri could have laughed, except the recollection of where he was and how he had no idea how to get out made all the fear come rushing back.

From behind him, someone shouted his name.

" _Yurio! Yurio is that you?!"_

Yuri spun around, trying to get up but falling to his knees again as the floor shook. "Katsudon?!" he shouted, voice breaking into a sob as out of the smoke materialized Yuuri and Viktor, both alive, though Viktor did not look very good at all.

They hurried over to Yuri and Viktor's arm slid from around Yuuri's shoulders as he dropped down next to Yuri. "Yura," he whispered. His face was too pale, his lips too blue, and his eyes were taking on a weird sheen. Still, he was able to wrap his arms loosely around Yuri for a moment. "Yura I promised we would find you."

Yuuri knelt as well, putting a hand on each of their backs.

Yuri couldn't say anything. He clung to Viktor, burying his face in his shoulder. When he opened his eyes and looked up, he saw through the shimmering heat waves that the pyramid headed creature was standing ten feet away from them. Hot coals fell on its shoulders, but rolled off as easily as raindrops, leaving only smudges of soot behind.

"Viktor," Yuri whispered. "Viktor what do we do?"

No response.

"Viktor?"

Viktor still didn't respond; his chest still rose and fell but he had apparently lost consciousness, eyes closed, head tipped to the side and resting against Yuuri's shoulder.

Yuuri was looking up at the pyramid monster as well, the light from the fires around them reflecting off his glasses and the tears on his cheeks. He slowly wrapped his arms around both Yuri and Viktor.  

As he clutched tighter at Viktor, Yuri became aware of another sound behind them. Dully he turned and looked to see what appeared to be something digging its way out of the rock fall of red hot coals. Beyond fear at this point, Yuri simply watched as a hand poked through, horribly burned, parts of the flesh blackened and other parts simply bone. More rocks fell away, and more, and then there was a hole in them large enough for a person to come through.

And the person that did come through was Svetlana. Horribly burned, impossible that she was alive, but Yuri recognized her all the same. She was carrying something with her, and she set it down before walking around the huddled group to stand between them and the pyramid creature, which was starting to lift its blade.

"Yuri," Svetlana said, her voice hindered by the fact that half of her mouth was melted shut. "Yuri, he is yours to send away."

"I don't know how!" Yuri sobbed, looking up at her. "I don't understand, what _is_ he?! Please you have to help us, _please_ , Viktor is dying you have to help us!"

Svetlana didn't budge. "What are you afraid of?!" she snarled. "Tell me what you are afraid of!"

"What?!" Yuri stared at her. He could see the pyramid creature raising its weapon in the background, but just like it had before, for a moment everything became very slow, and very quiet.

"Yura," Viktor whispered. "I love you, I am so sorry."

And then Yuri knew.

"I'm afraid of being alone," he whispered, looking up at Svetlana. "My father abandoned me, my mother is always in rehab or the hospital, I thought I never had any real friends…but Viktor and Katsudon came back for me. They could have left but they came back."

Yuuri's arm tightened around him.

Svetlana's face was becoming less and less recognizably human as the heat rose around them. Yuri hid his face in Viktor's shoulder again.

"I love you too," he said. "Viktor. I love you too."

His heart pounded in his ears in anticipation of the blow that would undoubtedly fall.

"I love both of you," Yuri whispered. "You came back for me."

The blow never came.

Instead, Yuri became slowly aware that the burning he was feeling on his exposed skin came not from intense heat, but from an icy wind. Opening his eyes Yuri saw not flames, but flakes of pure, downy white snow drifting down gently around them. It was blowing in through the person-sized hole in the wall, the wall that was made up not of glowing coals but dark, cold rock.

Next to Yuri, Viktor sat up slowly. "What…" he said, voice rough.

Yuri could have cried. Instead he grabbed Viktor's sleeve. "I don't know let's just fucking _move_!"

"Hey, that's…" Yuuri said, gesturing at an object sitting on the floor, the object Svetlana had pulled out of the fire with her, a rectangular black box—the car battery.

"I am not asking any questions let's go," Viktor said quickly, scrambling to his feet.

Yuri did not let go of Viktor's sleeve as he headed for the exit. He heard Yuuri behind him saying he got the battery, and then a second later all three of them tumbled out into the chilly air of an early winter evening.

For some time all they could do was stand there, ankle-deep in fluffy white snow, gasping in lungfuls of air that smelled neither of chemicals nor of burning. When Yuri finally turned to look at Viktor, he saw him examining a bloody gash in his shirt, under which the skin was smooth and unmarked.

"Vitya," Yuuri said, panting heavily, though he did not set down the car battery. "Are you…?"

"I feel like I've been running too much," Viktor said. "But I would appear to be all right."

Yuri stalked over to him. "Good. I'd never forgive you if you died on me." He punched Viktor in the shoulder, then threw his arms around him, hugging him fiercely. Then, rubbing his nose he drew back and said, "Also if you tell anyone that I said I love you, I'll kick your ass, got it, old man?"

Viktor looked slightly amused and very cold. "You meant it though, Yura, didn't you?"

"Of course I fucking meant it," Yuri said, sniffing and rubbing his nose again. He turned and looked to the right, squinting through the falling snow. "Hey, that's the car, isn't it?"

"Yes, I think it is," Viktor said with a long, relieved sigh. "Come on, let's get out of here."


	10. Epilogue

The visitation room of the rehab center was surprisingly cheerful. Sunlight streamed in through the tall windows, every chair and table was occupied with people visiting friends or family, children played with brightly colored blocks on the floor. Yuri sat in one corner with his mother at a small table; they had been playing cards, but Yuri's focus was wavering. They had been in Moscow for two days now (finally, finally, he thought), and neither he nor Viktor nor Yuuri had been able to sleep very well.  

His mother, Ksenia Plisetsky, always looked like she hadn't been sleeping well. Yuri couldn't remember a time when she didn't look exhausted and drawn out. It made him wonder if these programs were actually doing anything for her.  

"I'm glad you came to see me while you were here," Ksenia said, seemily out of nowhere. Maybe she was worried that their silence was growing awkward, as it sometimes did. She managed a little smile, though there was concern in her eyes as she leaned forward, putting a hand on his arm. "Are you all right, Yura? You look..." But she trailed off.  

Yuri shifted in his seat, picked up the deck of cards, tapped them against the table like a cigarette box. "What was my father's name?" he asked.  

_Please don't say Fyodor. Please. Let that have been a nightmare._  

_Don't say Fyodor._  

Ksenia stiffened, the way she always did. "You don't have a father," she said. 

"Mama." Yuri straightened, trying his best to look serious and grown up. (He remembered, vaguely, that his mother was closer in age to Viktor than he was, which felt strange to think about.) "I know he abandoned you and was a bastard but please I just want to know his name. It's important." 

_Don't say Fyodor._  

"I gave you your grandfather's name as a patronymic for a reason," Ksenia muttered, reaching up to take her blonde hair out of its ponytail and run her fingers through it. Finally she sighed. "Fyodor. Your father's name was Fyodor." 

Yuri closed his eyes. 

Ksenia touched his arm again and he looked at her, seeing the pinched expression on her face. "Yura, did he get in contact with you?" 

"What? No, he's—" Yuri stopped himself. How could he explain this? That was the question all of them had been struggling with since they got out of that place. How to explain it. Heart beating a little faster, Yuri said carefully, "No, someone else did. He... died, Mama. The year I was born. In a mine fire." 

"Oh." Ksenia sat back in her seat, taking a moment to mull over that. "That's...horrible." 

"Yeah," Yuri said, watching her.  

Ksenia fidgeted with her hair again. She shook her head a little. "I am sorry you never had a proper family, Yurochka. I fucked up so badly, I know that." 

"I had Grandpa," Yuri said. "And even when you weren't at home you were... well, here. And now I have Coach Yakov, and Ms. Baranovskaya. And Viktor. And his boyfriend, they're... they're really nice. I didn't miss out on having a family, Mama." He let out a bitter breath of laughter. "My father's the one who missed out on that." 

Ksenia smiled then. "You're incredible, Yura. You know that? I am so proud of you." 

*** 

Viktor and Yuuri had waited for him in a café across the street from the rehab center. Yuri had considered asking them to come with him, but he also wanted time alone with his mother. They would still be in Moscow for another day, so maybe he would introduce them to her tomorrow.  

When visiting hours ended and Yuri joined the throng of people leaving the building he spotted Viktor and Yuuri standing by Viktor's car in the parking lot. Yuri stuck his hands in his pockets and walked over to them, hesitated, then threw his arms around Viktor, hugging him tightly. 

"Oh," Viktor said, stunned for a second before he returned the embrace. "Yura? Is everything all right?" 

Yuri didn't answer. He hugged Viktor even tighter, then let go, rubbed his nose and walked around to open the door to the back seat of the car.  

"Yura?" Viktor said again. 

Looking up, Yuri met his gaze. For a brief second he smiled, then dropped into the backseat shouting, "Come on, geezers, let's go already!" 


End file.
